Two subcommittees of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives formed to probe alleged irregularities while constructing Gautam Buddha and Pokhara international airports have delayed their reports for months.

On June 28, two separate panels were formed to find out the reality amid allegations of financial irregularities worth billions of rupees in building the Bhairahawa-based Gautam Buddha International Airport and the Pokhara International Airport.

They were tasked with probing everything from the proposal to build the airports, investment and contracts, and the entire process up to the current state.

Six months have passed since the probe panels were formed, they are yet to give a final shape to the study reports.

While their coordinators give technical reasons for the delay, some of the members claim that the delay in finalising the reports is deliberate.

Amaresh Kumar Singh, a member of the subcommittee formed to investigate alleged corruption while building the Gautam Buddha International Airport, claims the report has been delayed because the leaders of ruling parties have direct involvement in the irregularities. He says massive irregularities have been found particularly in land acquisition.

“A kattha (126.44 square metres) of land with the maximum market price of Rs500,000 has been paid eight-fold higher, making the project bleed billions of rupees,” he told the Post. “It would not have been possible without the involvement of the leaders of major parties. Therefore, they are making attempts to delay the report.”

CPN-UML lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai leads the eight-member panel investigating the construction of the Bhairahawa airport. Along with Singh, Achyut Prasad Mainali, Bikram Pandey, Manju Khand, Shyam Kumar Ghimire and Saraj Ahmed Farooki are on the subcommittee.

The total cost of the airport construction is $76.1 million, excluding land acquisition. The Asian Development Bank contributed $37 million in loans and grants, while the OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) Fund for International Development contributed about $11 million in loans. The rest of the funding came from the government.

Though construction was planned to start on January 15, 2015, and be completed by December 2017, the deadline was extended by four years to December 2021.

The airport is spread over 787 bighas (533 hectares) and has a 3,000-metre-long and 45-metre-wide runway. Though some of the airlines are making irregular flights, there is no assurance of regular international flights.

Despite being built as projects of national pride, the Pokhara airport also has not been able to attract regular international flights.

Lekh Nath Dahal, a member of the sub-panel formed to probe the construction of Pokhara airport, also echoes Singh.

“The irregularities amount to at least Rs1 billion. The leaders of parties involved in pocketing the money don’t want the report,” Dahal told the Post. “Our coordinator also hasn’t shown urgency.”

Probing the construction of Pokhara Airport is a 12-member committee led by Rastriya Prajatantra Party chair Rajendra Lingden. The panel has Arjun Narasingh 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 Dahal as members.

Lingden, however, rejects the claims that the report was delayed deliberately. Talking to the Post, he said they are already working on the report with a plan to finalise it by mid-January. “I have no pressure to delay the report. Studying and analysing the documents takes time,” he said. “It should be ready by the end of Poush (mid-January).”

Spread over 3,899 ropanis [198.36 hectares] of land, the Pokhara airport, the construction for which began in the fiscal 2015-16, was initially scheduled for completion by fiscal 2018-19 at the cost of Rs22 billion. The timeline was pushed back by two years to the fiscal 2020-21, with costs ballooning to Rs25.34 billion.

The government secured a $215.96 million soft loan from China EXIM Bank in March 2016 to fund the project, which was implemented on an engineering procurement and construction (EPC) model.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority is also investigating the alleged irregularities and has seized documents including those related to the tender process. The loan repayment period has been fixed at 20 years, including a grace period of seven years when no interest will be charged.

An official at the Parliament Secretariat said the delay in receiving the necessary documents from the authorities concerned is the major reason why the report hasn’t been readied.

“Preliminary reports have already been prepared. The sub-panels are studying necessary documents to finalise them,” Ek Ram Giri, secretary for the PAC who also is a spokesperson for the secretariat, told the Post. “As there was no specific deadline for the subcommittees, we cannot say the final report has been delayed.”

However, members of the probe committee representing the ruling parties, also agree there has been some delay.

Yadav, a member of the Lingden-led committee, said he doesn’t know why the report has been delayed. “We had given our suggestions after the site visit and had a few sittings for the report,” he said. “It should not have taken so long to finalise it.”