The importance of the improvement plan lies in the airport’s being the front door to Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha which has been rapidly gaining popularity as an international pilgrimage but suffers from poor access which has hindered further growth.

The project has been on the drawing board for the past two decades. The proposed airport is expected to come online by December 2017.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, the Prime Minister said, “After the project is completed, it will increase the inflow of Buddhist pilgrims in Nepal and play a vital role in the country’s tourism development.” He added that billions were being poured into the country’s tourism and hydropower sectors.

“Now we need to ensure long-lasting peace to accelerate the country’s development pace,” he said, adding that bandas and strikes were sinful as they harm the investment environment.

“Although Nepal is rich with natural resources and possesses abundant hydropower potential, political stability has always been a barrier to the country’s growth. The days are gone for strikes, and a new chapter for development has started,” he said.

Prime Minister Koirala said that 3.5 million Nepalis had been forced to leave the country to work abroad due to limited opportunities here. “A few mega projects in tourism and hydropower would stop the outbound migratory trend.”

Similarly, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Deepak Chandra Amatya said that the planned international airport in Bhairahawa would serve as an alternative to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) which is under strain due to heavy traffic.

“After the completion of the project, it will make Nepal’s dream to attract more tourists come true, and the airport will link religious tourism with India, China and other Buddhist destinations.”

On November 13, 2013, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) awarded the contract to upgrade the airport to China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group. Caan Director General Ratish Chandra Lal Suman and General Manager of Northwest’s Overseas Department Zhou Zun signed the Rs 6.22 billion civil works deal.

The Chinese contractor emerged as the lowest bidder during a final review of the financial documents by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the major financer of the project. Caan has estimated the project to cost Rs 6.30 billion. The planned airport will have a 3,000-metre runway and a capacity to serve 760,000 passengers annually after the completion of the first phase of upgradation.

The scope of work involves the construction of a new runway, exit and parallel taxiways with flexible pavements, new international aircraft parking apron with rigid pavements, rehabilitation of the existing runway for conversion into a parallel taxiway, drainage system parallel to the runway, taxiway and diversion of the Ghaghara Khola and airport boundary, among others.

On February 26, Caan had received seven confirmed bids from among the 37 firms that obtained bid documents.

Of the total project cost, the ADB will provide $58.50 million ($42.75 in loans and $15.75 million in grants), the Opec Fund for International Development (OFID) will give a $15 million loan and Caan will bear the rest of the cost as counterpart funding.

During the second phase of development which will commence after 10 years, the airport is projected to handle up to 2 million passengers. After the airport is complete, it will be able to handle up to 6 million passengers annually. The airport will have six international parking bays.

Gautam Buddha Airport has been touted as one of the most viable projects due to its potential to draw a large number of Buddhist pilgrims to Lumbini. On the same occasion, Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudyal urged the contractor to complete the project within the deadline as almost all the ADB-funded projects had not encountered time overruns.

“As missing the deadline will increase the project’s cost, the contractor needs to be more honest,” he said, adding that the quality of the project should also be ensured as it has been a major concern for the government lately.