Kathmandu. Large-scale corruption has been exposed in the Pokhara International Airport project in Nepal. In 2012, this project with an estimated cost of Rs 620 crore reached Rs 892 crore. After investigation, Nepal’s Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has registered a case of corruption against a total of 55 people including five former ministers, ten former secretaries and Chinese company China CAMC Engineering.
According to media reports, the airport was opened in 2023, but in two and a half years only 45 international flights arrived here and about 3,000 passengers arrived, even though it was declared the international tourism hub of Western Nepal. Pokhara International Airport was once billed as Nepal’s “Gateway to the World”. It was claimed that it would become the international tourism hub of Western Nepal and tourists would increase. After two and a half years of operation, only 45 international flights have been recorded here. Himalayan Airlines and Sichuan Airlines operated some test flights, but could not operate regular services. Pokhara Airport Project was built with a loan from China’s Exim Bank and was said to be a project to double the tourism potential of Nepal.
Nepal’s CIAA has registered a case of corruption against 55 people and Chinese company China CAMC Engineering Company Limited, revealing huge irregularities in the construction of Pokhara Airport. This is considered to be one of the biggest corruption cases in the history of Nepal. According to the investigating agency, some officials of Nepal along with Chinese company CAMC made unethical changes in the amount. The construction of the airport started in 2016. At that time, the former PM of Nepal was KP Sharma Oli and this deal with China also went ahead formally in his government. The airport opened in 2023, but despite big claims, its international flights remained almost non-existent.
In this case, Ramsharan Mahat (former Finance Minister), Bhim Prasad Acharya (former Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister), Deepak Chandra Amatya (former Tourism Minister), Ramkumar Shrestha (former Tourism Minister) and Bahadur Bogati (late) (former Tourism Minister) have been made the main accused. Apart from this, the officials include suspended Director General of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority Pradeep Adhikari, former Director General Ratnachandra Lal Suman and former Director General Triratna Manandhar.
