Revisiting Nijgadh Airport controversies

Understanding the politics of land use is challenging part because there are numerous actors involved: national and regional government sectors including environmental bodies, flora and fauna conservation body, contractors, NGOs and local as well as indigenous communities. Along with the increasing trend of finding new development pathways it’s even more important to understand how these stakeholders work collectively or pose counter views in course of using land for big development projects. The construction plan of purposed Nijgadh International Airport is also passing through same phase, putting the project in halt.

After Supreme Court directed the government to hold the construction of the proposed Nijgadh International Airport until the final verdict, Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, Yogesh Bhattarai, has said that he is ready to explain to the apex court why there is no alternative to constructing the proposed international airport in Nijgadh. He further claimed that some group of people are trying to derail the project by bringing out highly exaggerated number of trees that need to be fell down and a fictitious data related to the effects this may leave on the environment.

A joint five-year survey conducted by the Department of Forest Research and Survey and National Forest Products Survey Project in between 2067 to 2071 BS, shows that of the total 147,181 square kilometres area of Nepal, forest area makes up 44.74 precent. Of it, 40.36 precent is covered by forest and remaining 4.38 precent is scrubland. Going with this data, 44.74 precent land covered by forest means, Nepal currently possesses around 5,962,438 hectares of forest. At present, first phase of Nijgad Airport project demands total 2,556 hectares forest area. Even if the required area is completely deforested, Nepal still bags 5,959,882 hectare forest. In short the amount of area that’s purposed to be deforested for Nijgad Airport covers only 0.0428% of our total forest. It’s not that the forest is seen as unimportant, but cost-benefit analysis (CBA) outweighs environmental aspect over international airport.

Despite its national importance and shared political determination of ruling as well as opposition government, the project has not been on motion yet. In 1995, considering the study based on different aspects like the runway orientation, land feature, distance from major towns, road accessibility, Airspace holding pattern, accusation availability of land and other important factors, the purposed area, Nijgad was chosen as best destination for building international airport. The Nijgadh area located in central Terai is the closest to Kathmandu and the Tarai-Kathmandu fastest route is about 1 hour away. Even if we analyse other international airfields, the airport and main city are within an hour’s drive away, so the location targeted for construction seems in very reasonable distance. Since the airport area will remain 27 km from the southern boundary of India and 45 km from the western boundary, making the control zone of 10 nautical miles will come under Nepali airspace. And it will further make easier for holding, taking required altitude and landing without any disturbance. Furthermore, the airport will remain at the distance of 20 km from the nearby Parsa Wildlife Reserve so the aeroplane will exert minimum noise pollution on the wildlife habitat. The purposed airport area is between Pasaha River on the east and the Bakaha River on the and there are no other river-rivulets that need to be controlled.

Though the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is endeavouring to peddle the project, some criticism regarding Environmental impact assessment (EIA) has added controversies to the project. Firstly we need to understand that some organized groups displeased with construction project have been selling false rumour regarding the amount of deforestation required to construct Nijgad airport. The estimated 8045 hector land coverage also comprises control area of Airport which serves for post-landing operation including turning and manoeuvring of airplane. The actual area needed to construct airport is 2556 hector and in that also only 1084 hector land is required during initial phase of construction which later will be extended in accordance with future demand. Secondly the criticism regarding government’s insistence to construct airport before (DPR) is also demanding rational explanation. Many people have misconception that deforestation will begin right after the ministry approves the proposal. But the construction project will undergo different compartmentalized phases, each loaded with precise purpose. The first phase involves Environmental impact assessment (EIA) which has already been approved, in second phase certain area will be estimated for airport considering future necessities, thirdly other project studies along with the Detail project report (DPR) will accurately indicate the amount of land and trees to be cut. Then only the deforestation will begin.

According to the report by Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) the airport would be able to handle 20 million passengers annually in the first phase. CAAN has purposed to build 4,000-metre runway and 100,000-square metre international passenger terminal building. Nijgad Airport plan counted among some biggest projects in world and after completion it can be the optimal potential transit hub of Asia pacific region. Furthermore it will function as international air centre directly contributing to national economy. International flights from more than twenty cities will be landing every day; millions of travellers will catch connecting flights from this platform. It will be greater, more advanced and busier than any other airport in Nepal. Likewise it’s estimated that over fifty four precent international tourists travel to their destination by air. The future connectivity expected from Nijgad international air transport will also encourage some share of growing global tourism inside Nepal.

Refrences:

http://mofe.gov.np/downloadfile/25%20Years%20of%20Achievements%20on%20Biodiversity%20Conservation%20In%20Nepal_1530603709.pdf http://finland.org.np/public/default.aspx?contentid=342858&nodeid=35063&contentlan=2&culture=en-US

Yogesh Bhattarai’s statements: https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/no-alternative-to-nijgadh-airport/

Total forest in Nepal : https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/forest-cover-increased-nepal-late/

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