The government will be issuing a tough guideline for building new airports amid a flurry of new construction pushed by political party leaders and influential people.

The coming Airport Construction Guideline 2016 has aimed at sustainable airport planning and construction to make the facilities economically viable.

Due to lack of proper planning and limited aircraft, many hastily built airports have turned into cow pastures.

According to a preliminary draft of the guideline obtained by the Post, locals have to provide the land for the airport without compensation.

Only after the required land has been transferred to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) will the construction project move ahead.

Likewise, the minimum amount of land for the runway has been fixed at 850 metres by 75 metres. Locals will have to give up another 75 metres by 75 metres for the apron and tower terminal. The gradient of the land at the proposed site should not exceed 5 percent, and aircraft should be able to approach the runway from either end.

Similarly, locals can apply for the construction of an airport only after the plan has been cleared by the village development committee, district development committee or municipality. For long-term schemes, locals are required to provide integrated land under the proposed airport’s 10-year phase-wise development plan.

Caan will proceed with the airport plan after doing a study and receiving investment and service guarantees before and after the construction project is completed.

“There is a rising trend of demanding airports in every village, and it has become a serious issue. A comprehensive financial viability analysis should be done before starting construction,” said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, secretary at the Tourism Ministry, addressing the parliamentary International Relations and Labour Committee on Thursday.

“For this reason, we will soon be introducing Airport Construction Guideline 2016,” he told lawmakers.

Thapaliya said that constructing a small airport with rudimentary facilities would require at least Rs300 million, while an airport with a concrete or blacktopped runway costs Rs500 million. Moreover, it costs Rs4 million annually to operate a small airport, and it has to be repaired regularly.

The preliminary draft says that new domestic airports will be constructed after making a proper assessment of their need, geographical location and population that will use the facility, regional balance, tourism prospects, rates of return and proximity to other airports.

The government has also planned to launch a community-managed model to manage airports to give local communities a sense of ownership over them. Under present laws, the private sector or local communities are not allowed to construct or operate airports in Nepal.

The draft guideline says that new airports will be constructed either through community or local participation or jointly.

Under the existing Civil Aviation Policy 2006, new airports cannot be constructed close to other airports.

In the hilly region, proposed airports should be at least 20 nautical miles away from another airport.

In the Tarai, the minimum aerial distance between airports has been fixed at 40 nautical miles.

New airport projects will be taken ahead only after conducting an Environment Impact Assessment and Geo Technical study.

Proposed airports having road access will be given clearance only after conducting a comprehensive financial viability analysis. “Caan will not invest in airports that do not have financial viability,” said the draft.

In terms of remote areas, airports will not be constructed without the project being approved by the government’s multi-year programme and assurance of budgetary allocation.

The country currently has 50 airports. Among them, 17 are not in operation as there are not enough aircraft to fly to them. Caan makes an operating profit from only seven of the airports. It is currently building six new domestic airports.