The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has allocated a significant chunk of the budget for three major infrastructure projects. Those projects include Gautam Buddha International Airport Project in Bhairahawa, Pokhara International Airport Project and parallel taxiway expansion at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

CAAN has targeted to complete all these works by the fiscal year ending mid-July 2021 reports The Kathmandu Posts.

the Gautam Buddha International Airport, which has achieved 91 percent physical progress, has set the completion deadline of December. If they get technicians in August to install the runway lighting system and other communication and navigational aids, the airport will be ready for operation by the end of this year reports the Post.

Similarly, CAAN has a plan to complete Pokhara International Airport by July 2021. The Chinese-funed airport has made 60 percent physical progress as of July-end.

Likewise CAAN also plans to complete the extension of parallel taxiways at the Tribhuvan International Airport—in the northern and southern parts of the runway. The northern part, which is 1,400 metres long, is jointly funded by the government and the Asian Development Bank. The civil aviation authority is extending 1,000 metres in the southern part with its own resources.

Once the taxiway project is completed, traffic congestion at the country’s only international airport is expected to reduce significantly.

The board of directors approved a budget of Rs41.11 billion to execute key programmes and projects for the fiscal year 2020-21, down from Rs47 billion last fiscal year.

“The budget focuses on giving continuity to the ongoing infrastructure projects. There are only a few new projects planned for this fiscal year,” said Raj Kumar Chhetri, spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.