Lumbini businessmen urge PM to run GBIA in full capacity

By Laxman Paudel,Bhairahawa, May 6: Lumbini’s businessmen have asked Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ to operate Bhairahawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) at its full capacity. 

Under the leadership of Rupandehi’s Siddhartha Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), the province’s businesspeople submitted a memorandum with this demand to Prime Minister Prachanda on Friday when he was in Lumbini to attend the Buddha Jayanti and Lumbini Day celebrations. 

In the memorandum, they have asked the Prime Minister to leave for his future India visit from GBIA, have the national flag carrier Nepal Airlines use the airport to fly to New Delhi (India), Malaysia and Qatar and take the initiative for the operation of regular and chartered flights to bring the world’s Buddhists to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha.

They have also demanded that the schemes and discounts introduced to attract foreign airlines to GBIA be continued for another year, bring the electronic equipment currently sitting idle into operation as soon as possible and create an environment to ensure the security of Rs. 60 billion invested in the region by businesses expecting a tourism boom after the inauguration of the airport. 

Thakur Kumar Shrestha, president of SCCI, said that everyone was extremely hopeful when GBIA came into operation on Buddha Jayanti Day last year. “We felt that industry, trade, agriculture and tourism would all flourish. But our initial hopes have now turned into despair,” he shared.

Shrestha told the Prime Minister that the nation’s economy would be benefitted massively if the airport could be operated at full capacity.

Govinda Gyawali, vice-president for commerce at SCCI, said that PM Prachanda took the memorandum positively and promised to take necessary steps after further discussions.