Second International Airport of nepal to be on the runway by 2015

KATHMANDU, APR 11 -
If all goes well, construction of the much talked about Second International Airport (SIA) in Nijgadh, Bara, will start by April next year, government officials said on Sunday.
Officials at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) made such statement during the submission of the Detailed Feasibility Study Report carried out by Korea’s Landmark Worldwide Company (LMW) on the ministry premises. The airport will be developed under the ‘build own operate and transfer’ (BOOT) model.
Although the LMW study said the single-runway airport’s construction—if started this year—could be completed by 2015 for commercial operation, necessary legal procedures to be followed by the government has delayed the project by a year.
“The comprehensive report submitted today will be briefed to the prime minister, other ministers and high-level government officials,” said MoTCA secretary Kishore Thapa.
According to Thapa, after the briefing, the high-level BOOT committee will start the investors selection process—which will take at least six months—and negotiations with selected investors will take an additional six months.
However, the government has two options for awarding the project to investors. First one is ‘request for proposal (RFP)’—which is based on selection process—and the second, under the BOOT Act section-9—which says that the project can directly be awarded to any interested investors. “The BOOT Act says that the Rs 2-billion project can be awarded directly to any investors without calling for RFP,” according to the officials.

As SIA is a government prioritised project and LMW is showing interest in the project since 2007, the Korean company has high chances of winning the project. “Although, MoTCA has assured prioritising the project to LMW, which of the options to be adopted will be finalised through a political decision,” Thapa added.
In the recommendation of the BOOT committee, the project will be forwarded to the Cabinet to decide on which option to be adopted.
On March 8, 2010, the government had awarded the contract for carrying out a detailed feasibility study to LMW. The company has invested $3.55 million for the detailed and design feasibility study.
LMW Senior Vice President Seung-Hyung Lee is also optimistic that the government would acknowledge their efforts made in the project over the last 4 years. “We hope that the government will recognise our efforts and will assign the project development to us.”
SIA will cover 3,000 hectares of land (2,000 hectares for airport and remaining for airport city). LMW’s feasibility study said the proposed airport could handle 15 million passengers until 2030 and even accommodate the super-jumbo Airbus A380 after the first phase of construction.
The estimated cost for the first phase, according to the feasibility study, would be $ 650 million. The proposed airport Apron has 15 stands for international carriers, four stands for domestic and two for cargo flights.
The first passenger terminal has an area of 75,500 square metre, six boarding gates, 34 check-in counters, six security inspection counters, 35 immigration counters, eight customs inspection counters and six baggage claim counters.
By the end of the third phase of construction, the airport will have a parallel runway, enabling it to handle 60 million passengers annually.“The study said the Kathmandu-Tarai fast track should be completed at least six months before the commencement of the airport. “Without completing the fast track at least six months in advance, the airport cannot start commercial operation,” said Binay Rawal, LMW representative in Nepal.

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Posted in: development work in nepal,miscellaneous

Asian Development Bank to invest in Upper Seti hydro project

KATHMANDU, APR 08 -
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that it is willing to invest in the 127 MW Upper Seti Hydroelectric Project located in Damauli in Tanahun district.
The government of Nepal and the ADB reached an understanding to this effect during ADB Vice President Xiaoyu Zhao’s recent visit to Nepal when he met with Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal and Finance Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari.
“Vice President Zhao told the prime minister and the finance minister about ADB’s willingness to invest in the project,” said ADB Country Director Barry Hitchcock. “This project is attractive for us as it already has a road and other infrastructure,” added Hitchcock. As per the ADB’s estimate, the total cost of the project would be around US$ 300 million (Rs 21 billion).
On Dec. 23, 2010, the ADB and the government signed an agreement under which the bank would provide a technical grant of Rs 180 million to do a detailed study for the project. “The ADB could also issue a loan for the project,” said Hitchcock. According to the government, the ADB’s technical assistance will be used to conduct a detailed engineering study including development of design options, specifications and drawings for the civil works, development of design options, specifications and drawings for the electromechanical and hydro-mechanical works and transmission facilities and the bidding process.
In 2006-07, the Nepal Electricity Authority completed an upgrading feasibility study for the project with technical assistance from the Japanese government through JICA. After the detailed engineering study is finished in 2012, the project is expected to go into the construction phase. It is projected to be completed by 2016-2017 if everything goes as planned.
The Upper Seti is one of the few storage-type hydropower projects that has been identified as a national priority project by the government and recommended for further implementation by the last two national budgets.
When asked if the ADB would be willing to invest in the 750 MW West Seti Hydroelectric Project too, Hitchcock said the bank was positive about investing in it. “We’ve not talked about it,” added Hitchcock. “But if the government shows interest, we can discuss it.”
The government stated that the West Seti project located in Doti district would be constructed to address domestic energy demand when unveiling the energy crisis control programme. The programme has also envisioned constructing one 100 MW project each in the five development regions on a turn-key basis.
West Seti Hydro Power Company Limited (WSHPL), promoter of the West Seti Hydropower Project, had proposed building it under the public-private-partnership (PPP) model after failing to put together the required resources.WSHPL has filed an application at the Department of Electricity Development to extend the deadline for financial closure of the project. The ADB had earlier shown interest in the project.

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Posted in: development work in nepal,miscellaneous