Airport would be constructed in Dhulikhel: Minister Banskota

Kavrepalanchok–Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Gokul Prasad Banskota has said the alternative domestic airport would be constructed in Dhulikhel if it was not found feasible in Banepa, one of the places in Kavrepalanchok district where feasibility study has been conducted.

Minister Banskota, who is also the government spokesperson, said this while addressing an interaction programme organised by Kavrepalanchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Banepa.

He said the government has not backtracked from constructing the domestic airport in Kavrepalanchok. "If the Nagidanda of Banepa is not found fit for constructing the alternative domestic airport, it would be constructed in Dhulikhel. We have already carried out monitoring for the same.

The government has not backed off from this," he said, adding that a Chinese company has shown interest in this project and talks were being held with it to that connection. A feasibility study was carried out at three places in Kavrepalanchok district – Nagidanda in Banepa and Devisthan and Chisapani Thulichaur – last year for construction of a domestic airport, an alternative to the present congested Tribhuvan International Airport.

The minister said that sometimes necessity drives development and the government would not backtrack from the construction and development.

Mayor of Banepa municipality Laxmi Narsingh Bade and central member of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), Sur Krishna Baidya, stressed on collaboration between the business community and the local level for nation's development and prosperity. ---