The proposed expansion of Surkhet airport in western Nepal has got the go-ahead after the layout plan was changed to address the concerns of locals regarding land acquisition. The airport will now be expanded towards the northern side only to leave the existing infrastructure on other sides intact.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had originally intended to acquire land to extend the airport area by 600 metres on the northern side, 400 metres on the southern side, 25 metres on the eastern side and 200 metres on the western side.

Locals launched a protest saying the plan would displace hundreds of residents, schools and other infrastructure, and that the expansion plan went against the master plan for Surkhet Valley.

Due to poor visibility at the airport site, authorities had proposed to install a lighting system stretching 460 metres on the southern side.

The local residents argued that the expansion project was not based on a technical study, and that they were tired of giving up land repeatedly for the airport.

Surkhet airport is the gateway to the Karnali region, and is strategically important for the transportation of food grain, clothes, medicines, construction materials, school equipment and other commercial goods to the roadless mountainous area in the north.

“The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, Karnali provincial government and locals have reached an agreement to expand the airport towards the northern side only,” said Umesh Kumar Panthi, chief of Surkhet airport. “Accordingly, we will prepare a new design.”

The runway of Surkhet airport, constructed in October 1966, was then 1,000 metres long. Six years later, it was lengthened by 250 metres. In 2001, the airport area was expanded slightly for safety reasons, by approximately 60 metres, which required around 3 bighas of land.

The airport was enlarged again in 2004. After 16 years, the government initiated another expansion plan, the fifth in as many decades.

Last November, the cabinet approved Karnali province's proposal to expand the runway of Surkhet airport to 1,555 metres by acquiring 30 bighas of land at an estimated cost of nearly Rs8 billion. As per the agreement, the federal and Karnali provincial governments will share the costs on a 50/50 basis.

In 2004, when the airport was expanded, many schools like Hastabir Primary School were relocated. The project would affect Amar Jyoti Secondary School and Amar Deep Community School which contains 4,000 students and Hastabir Primary School which has 700 students. In addition, there are three private schools and a number of cooperatives.

Panthi said that extending the airport on the northern side as has been agreed would affect only Amar Jyoti Secondary School and a few houses belonging to locals.

“We will prepare a new layout plan within 15 days, and discuss with the affected people to prepare a list of families that will need to be relocated.”

Local businessman Nirak KC said that the project had decided to acquire extra land even though earlier it had not seen any need to do so. “That resulted in a dispute as locals were not happy. Now, the design will be amended and there will be less destruction.”

Tika Ram Acharya, coordinator of the ad hoc committee formed by residents and civil society leaders to stop the planned development, said they had stopped all protests.

Acharya said that all three tiers of government and locals, including leaders of opposition parties, had agreed to amend the airport’s design to reduce its social and economic impact.

“We have called off our protest. After the new design, the provincial government will need to seek the consent of the affected people for land acquisition and prepare an appropriate relocation plan.”

Surkhet airport can currently accommodate planes as large as the 42-seater ATR aircraft. After the expansion project, it will be able to handle larger aircraft like the 72-seater ATR.

In 2019, a total of 2,990 flights took off and landed at Surkhet airport, and 19,941 travellers passed through here. The airport handled 812 tonnes of cargo last year.