No budget for Samaiji airport construction

By Puskar Bhandari,Dadeldhura,jun,1: The government did not allocate any budget for the construction of the Samaiji Airport in Dadeldhura district for the next fiscal year. 

Three preliminary studies have estimated the construction cost of the airport to be built at Puilek in Ajaymeru Rural Municipality-1 at Rs. 4 billion.   It has already been two years since the preparation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the construction of the airport began, but no progress has been made in the project.  When voices were raised that the home district of the five-time prime minister and president of Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba  had no airport, Deuba in 2022 announced to build an airport in his home district. 

During an election rally at the bus park in Bagbazaar in 2022, Deuba said, “Earlier this (Dadeldhura) was in Sudurpaschimanchal, and it was not linked with Kathmandu. I became the Prime Minister in 1995 and a bridge was built over the Karnali and since then 22 bridges have been built in partnership with the Government of India.”

He added, “We had to walk for four days to reach Dhangadhi from Dadeldhura. Now we reach in four hours. There is also a need to upgrade the Dhangadhi-Dadeldhura road to a four-lane one.  I will do it.  Now the locals here have also earned money. You have become rich.  You say you want an airport. I will build that too.”

Unfortunately, no budget is set aside or the construction of Puilek Airport in the budget for the fiscal year 2024/25 presented by Finance Minister Barsaman Pun on Tuesday. 

Sohan Gairal, a local, said that the non-allotment of the budget to build the airport had only supported the belief that the leaders only tend to make tall talks. He also said that he was once again disappointed that there was nothing to be done.

Dr. Tara Joshi, a member of the Sudurpashchim Provincial Assembly, however, claimed that it was Deuba who stopped the construction of the airport. He added, “After the detailed project study report (DPR) was prepared for the construction of the airport, I went to see Deuba with an application for the construction of the airport, but he said no and the work could not move ahead.”

A preliminary study showed that a runway of 1,000 metres to 1700 metres long can be built in Puilek. The width of the airport will be 150 meters.  The process for the construction of Samaiji Airport was initiated a decade ago.

Dr. Joshi, who was then a leader of the Samajwadi Party, said that the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority had allocated Rs. 50 million in 2021.

He further added that the federal government also allocated Rs. 6 million, and the amount was spent on studies and DPR.  According to him, a company called IFID Nepal conducted a technical study.

Smaran Bhatt, an engineer of IFED Nepal, said that a study showed that a two-way landing was not possible in the airport and planes could land only from the south side. According to him, several trees needed to be cut to build the airport.