Tarigaun airport to get 1,400-metre runway within two years

The government has prepared to extend the runway at Dang's Tarigaun airport to at least 1,400 metres within two years.

Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Khadga Raj Paudel said this after inspecting the airport site at Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City-12 on Wednesday.

The inspection team included the ministry's secretary, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal Director General Mukesh Dangol, and other technical staff.

According to Minister Paudel, Rs 250 million has been allocated for the airport in the current fiscal year, and this will be used to begin preliminary studies and extension work this year itself. The government aims to develop the airport so that 72-seat aircraft can operate regular flights there.

While it had earlier been said the runway would need to be realigned, the inspection indicated a preliminary possibility of extending it straight by about 600 metres, Minister Paudel said.

The plan is to use Tarigaun as an alternative airport when flights cannot land at Nepalgunj because of fog or other reasons; being at a higher elevation than Nepalgunj makes it suitable for this alternative use, according to the minister.

During the inspection, Minister Paudel said the project would not be stalled, remarking, "Should the airport in the general secretary's own district go unbuilt?"

Rastriya Swatantra Party General Secretary Bipin Acharya said the push for the expansion was not for any particular individual but for the benefit of roughly 1.7 to 1.8 million people in Dang and neighboring districts. He said decisions on the airport's expansion would be made on the basis of technical studies.