Nepal's Plane Talk: Was 'Incomplete' Pokhara Airport Inaugurated on Jan 1 in A Hurry? Exclusive

Was Nepal’s Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA), where a passenger plane with 72 people onboard crashed on Sunday, inaugurated on January 1 without completing the work? Was the construction by China’s CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation not good enough?

These and many such questions are being asked as details of the crash-landing emerge, according to local sources.

“In April, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi handed over the keys. PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda inaugurated it on January 1. This is the first accident in the airport after the handover. The technical team will have to study the material used," a highly-placed source from Nepal told CNN-News18 exclusively.

“There are several doubts about the competence of pilots. Also, the location of the Pokhara airport is a concern. Among the other questions are if the airport was inaugurated in a hurry, and if the hazards were not taken into account," said another source.

In May 2014, the firm was entrusted with the contract to build the PRIA. The construction work for the airport started in July 2017 at an estimated cost of 22 billion NPR. “It is disputed as the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu unilaterally declared the Pokhara International Airport is a flagship project of China-Nepal BRI cooperation, but Nepal hasn’t decided yet. There is also confusion over whether it was built under a loan or grant," said the first source.

​A day ahead of the inauguration, the Embassy had said: “This is the flagship project of China-Nepal BRI cooperation. Warm congratulations to Nepali Gov and Nepali people!"

“The CM of Gandaki province has requested the government to turn loan into grants," said the first source.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the aircraft took off from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport at 10.33 am and crash-landed at the airport in Pokhara — a major tourist destination in the Himalayan nation. The aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport.

RESCUE OPS ON

The prime minister has left for Tribhuvan International Airport to understand the details of the accident of the plane flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara.

The PM has instructed security personnel and all government agencies to carry out effective rescue operations after the Nepalese passenger plane crashed. The prime minister held an emergency meeting of the Cabinet after the mishap, My Republica newspaper reported.

The INAUGURATION

The newly-built Pokhara Regional International Airport, the third international airport in Nepal, was inaugurated by Dahal at a special ceremony.

A Buddha Air flight carrying Dahal was saluted with water cannon when it landed at the new airport on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency. “With this airport, Pokhara has become the center of connectivity with many countries," Prachanda had said at the inauguration ceremony which attracted hundreds of thousands of audience.

Pokhara is a popular tourist destination in central Nepal. “Nobody will dispute the contribution of Pokhara International Airport to the economic development of the district, the metropolitan city, and the whole nation, because of the enhanced connectivity established by this airport," Prachanda had said.

Buddha Air, Shree Airlines, Yeti Airlines, and Guna Air had started conducting daily flights to and from the newly-built international airport.

Meanwhile, Himalaya Airlines performed a successful demonstration flight at the airport, becoming the first airline to land Airbus A320-214 in Pokhara.

Inputs from PTI, IANS

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