The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives has formed two subcommittees to probe suspected irregularities in the construction of two international airports in Pokhara and Bhairahawa.

The parliamentary committee on Thursday said that it formed the probe panels to investigate the entire construction processes of the Pokhara Regional International Airport and the Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party chair Rajendra Lingden will head a 12-member committee—comprising Arjun Narsingh KC, Gokul Prasad Baskota, Janardan Sharma, Tara Lama Tamang, Teju Lal Chaudhary, Deepak Giri, Dev Prasad Timilsina, Prem Bahadur Ale, Ram Krishna Yadav, Rukmani Rana Baraili, and Leknath Dahal—to probe the construction of Pokhara airport.

Likewise, an eight-member team led by CPM-UML lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai will investigate the Bhairahawa-based airport. Lawmakers Achyut Prasad Mainali, Amresh Kumar Singh, Bikram Pandey, Manju Khand, Shyam Kumar Ghimire, and Saraj Ahmed Farooki are among the committee members.

According to Hrishikesh Pokharel, chair of the public accounts committee, both sub-committees have been asked to submit their findings within a month.

The reports will cover everything from the proposal to build the airspaces, investment and contracts, and the entire proceedings from their construction to the current state.

Despite being built as projects of national pride, neither of the airports have been able to operate international flights on a regular basis.

The Pokhara airport was provided a loan of Rs22 billion by China while the Asian Development Bank had provided a loan of Rs7 billion for Gautam Budhha International Airport.

“Both the airports were built as national pride projects but have not been able to operate international flights,” Pokharel said. “Did these projects increase the pride of the country? Why were these projects built if they cannot operate flights? Why were there no discussions about the feasibility of international flights to the airports before their initiation? We have to look deep into these issues.”

Spread over 3,899 ropani [198.36 hectares] of land, the Pokhara airport, the construction for which began in fiscal 2015/16, was initially scheduled to be completed by fiscal 2018/19 at an estimated cost of Rs22 billion. The completion was delayed by two years to fiscal 2020/21 and the cost was shown to be Rs25.34 billion.

The airport was inaugurated in May 2022 by then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The airport has been operating at a loss as it has been unable to operate any international flights.

Likewise, the construction of the Gautam Buddha International Airport was planned to begin on January 15, 2015, and be completed by December 2017. However, the deadline was extended by four years to December 2021.

Despite being officially opened to the public in May 2022, the airport has come to a virtual standstill. The initial estimation of the cost of construction was said to be Rs30.91 billion, but with the extension of the deadline, the cost shot up to Rs35.66 billion.

The parliamentary committee has also directed the government to cooperate with other countries and airline companies to facilitate flights to both airports.

In January 2015, former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had laid the foundation to upgrade the Bhairahawa domestic airport into an international airport.

The foundation for the Pokhara Airport was laid by former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in April 2016.

The two projects had to bear the brunt of the 2015 earthquake, blockade, Covid pandemic, economic slowdown, inadequate resources, and protests from locals. They took nine years and Rs61 billion in total to come to fruition.

Until April 2024, Jazeera Airways operated 110 flights to the Bhairahawa airport. The Himalayan Airways also operated 68 two-way charter flights to Malaysia from Bhairahawa.

Since May of last year, a Nepali Airlines flight from Malaysia touches down in Bhairahawa every Tuesday before arriving in Kathmandu.

The Pokhara airport, however, has yet to see any regular international flights. Although the Bangladeshi airline operators are eager to fly to Pokhara, official discussions on the matter are yet to happen.