PM seeks concrete plan for aircraft procurement

KATHMANDU, March 26: Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai on Monday asked officials concerned to come up with a concrete plan for adding new aircraft in Nepal Airlines Corporation´s (NAC) fleet.



At a meeting organized at the PM´s Office on Monday, Bhattarai also instructed officials to resolve hurdles in aircraft procurement process.[break]



The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation has aborted the aircraft procurement process after the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) asked the ministry to start fresh process to add new aircraft. The PAC had issued the instruction after the ministry tried to revive the procurement deal signed with European manufacturer Airbus.



Speaking at the meeting, PM Bhattarai said Nepali tourism sector was facing serious problems due to lack of aircraft in NAC´s fleet for international flights.

“We have held numerous discussions on aircraft procurement. Now is the time for action,” he added.



Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Lokendra Bista, Minister for Physical Planning and Works Hridayesh Tripathi, Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire, Tourism Secretary Dr Ganesh Raj Joshi, Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota along with lawmakers and senior NAC officials were present in the meeting.



Through the budget for fiscal year 2008/09, the government had announced to procure two new aircraft for NAC for international sector.

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