The company also clarified that it was not seeking the commitment of Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) to award it the airport construction project.[break]
The LMW´s response comes a day after MoTCA officials claimed that the company was seeking the ministry´s commitment to award it the airport construction project before it submits the feasibility report.
MoTCA officials are blaming LMW for deliberately delaying the submission of feasibility report of proposed airport at Nijgadh in Bara district. The final date for submission was Jan 31.
LMW officials say their concern was simply to get priority from the government in implementation of the project.
“Feasibility study report was ready on the scheduled date. The slackness on the part of government is behind the delay,” Binay B Rawal, representative of the LMW in Nepal, said.
Referring to the agreement which demands a discussion of major issues with the concerned authority, Rawal further added that the ministry did not respond to their continuous request to arrange a discussion. He also said the ministry was not acting as per the spirit of the agreement.
Rawal said the LMW had sent letter to the ministry two times before the deadline, notifying about the completion of the report and requesting to arrange a discussion.
A source at MoTCA, however, said they had asked the company to send them final draft of the report it the company is not in a position to make final presentation. “There is no reason why we should ignore their request. In fact, we were looking forward to it,” the source added.
A clause in the agreement states that the Government of Nepal will give LMW priority for implementation of the project.
“We are simply asking the MoTCA to complete all the procedures reaching to the final stage of negotiation,” Rawal said, adding that the company was ready to leave the project if things do not go well during negotiations with the cabinet.
According to Rawal, the LMW´s main concern was that the MoTCA should not backtrack from its responsibility by simply recommending the company to Build Operate Own and Transfer (BOOT) committee instead of the cabinet.
LMW is involved with a number of big international projects, including the construction of Incheon International Airport, Seoul. Incheon International Airport was rated the best airport in world for five consecutive years.
With Tribhuwan International Airport already near to saturation point, there is an urgent need for early completion of the second international airport. MoTCA is supposed to start implementation of the project within three months of the submission of feasibility report. The delay in submission of report is certain to push back the completion of first phase of the project scheduled for 2015. The estimated cost for the first phase amounts to $600 million.
As per the preliminary feasibility study, the airport can handle 15 million passengers a year after the completion of the first phase.
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