UML leader Paudel warns PM not to halt construction of Gautam Buddha Int’l Airport

RUPANDEHI: Former Finance Minister and CPN-UML Deputy General Secretary Bishnu Paudel has warned the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government not to halt the construction of Gautam Buddha International Airport.

He said so during a programme organised by the Trade and Industry Association Rupandehi chapter on Saturday after the new government put the second phase of construction works on hold taken ahead by the erstwhile KP Sharma Oli-led government.

“We started the second phase of construction works. We had prepared a modality to take ahead the construction of a modern terminal building and a specious parking lot among other modern infrastructures with the help Asian Development Bank,” he said.

“Last year, I had sent a letter to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation informing that the government will bear the ‘counter parts fund’  for the construction of infrastructure in the second phase,” leader Paudel added.

The government should have signed an agreement with the Asian Development on the basis of the same and called an international multi-year contract till now. But, with the change in government, no agreement has been signed with the Asian Development Bank yet, he said. Instead, the government has put the project on hold.

He further said that the government should be prepared to face the protests of Lumbini Province and Rupandehi locals if the government did not resume the works immediately.