May 11 : Four thousand, two hundred and twenty three trees have to be cut down for the construction of an approach road in the perimeter of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport in the Bara district. The very airport is a national pride project of the country.
The fifth meeting of the high-level facilitation committee for inter-agency coordination for the project construction on Sunday came up with this decision for chopping 4,232 trees on designated area for construction of the approach road on the airport periphery.
The meeting has decided to take forward the process for cutting the trees. As per the decisions under the process, the Ministry of Forests and Environment will present at the earliest possible a proposal before the Council of Ministers for approval of the cutting of trees.
The high-level facilitation committee has been formed under the coordination of the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation for maintaining inter-agency coordination and facilitation as well as resolving problems faced in the construction of the Nijgadh International Airport. The committee has, likewise, move ahead with the task of preparing a log and number of the trees to be cut and of electricity poles within the construction airport area.
The fourth meeting of the committee in third week of last December formed a task force for relocating human settlements within the the project area. The task force comprises the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperative and Poverty Alleviation as the coordinator and representative of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and the Director looking after national pride projects under the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
The committee decided that this task force will move forward works under its responsibility at the earliest and submit to the committee within 10 days a progress report on the same. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation stated that Investment Board Nepal will call for a proposal on the public-private partnership (PPP) model with the Zurich International by specifying a deadline for construction of the airport and the process of agreement would be completed. The committee has also directed CAAN to quickly complete the process for the purchase agreement of the master plan of Nijgadh Airport. RSS
