Stating that the quality of service at TIA has improved since the ministry launched a campaign to beautify the airport and enhance its customer service, Pokharel vowed to take feedbacks and suggestions from passengers and monitor activities of all the service providers at the airport.
“We will collect feedbacks and suggestions from passengers and implement them gradually,” Pokharel said after concluding his inspection visit of TIA on Tuesday.
Nirmal Kayastha, who was traveling to Australia on Tuesday, said that the major problem at TIA is cleanliness and passenger service. Similarly, Peter Schmid from Switzerland praised faster service delivery at TIA and urged the government to expand TIA and build another international airport at the earliest.
Minister Pokharel also requested all the service providers to work within the system so that the mission of enhancing quality and services at TIA can be achieved. He also urged Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to hold talks with Sanjose Constructora to resume its work. “Sanjose will be provided all the facilities required from our side. If it is not ready to resume work even after that, we will have to terminate its contract and go for another tender,” said Pokharel.
Only 14 percent of work of TIA Expansion Project funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has to be completed by 2016, has been completed so far. Sanjose Constructora has halted its work, citing unavailability of soil.
The Director General of ADB, in its project review meeting held in Kathmandu in July, had also warned that ADB would terminate the project if works are not completed as per the given timeframe.
TIA TO GET NEW CONVEYER BELTS
Sanjiv Gautam, director general of CAAN, said TIA authorities will install two conveyer belts at the airport very soon. “The conveyer belts are lying stranded at Kolkata. We will bring them into operation within a month of getting delivery,” he added.
Passengers have been facing difficulty in getting their baggage in time after one of the three conveyer belts was removed for the ADB-funded Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project.
'GROUND HANDLING SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN TO INT'L COMPANY'
Making a presentation on affairs at TIA, Devananda Upadhyay, general manager of TIA, suggested to the government to hire a private firm to provide ground handling services at TIA. He argued that Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) lacks trained manpower and modern equipment to provide effective ground handling service.
Responding to Upadhyay, Pokharel said ministry was against the suggestion of handing over ground handling task to a private firm. We should first let Nepali company to improve its services, he said. “We should talk to the concerned authority to decide on what can be done to improve the services,” said Pokharel.
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