Six residential houses adjacent to the southern boundary of Tribhuvan International Airport have been deemed to be too close to the airport for safety reasons
Six residential houses adjacent to the southern boundary of Tribhuvan International Airport have been deemed to be too close to the airport for safety reasons, while four others are found to be in critical zone, according to a report prepared by Kathmandu Metropolitan City.
A technical team under KMC engineer Bir Bahadur Khadka came to the finding after conducting an obstacle survey at Palpakpot, Koteshwor in KMC Ward No. 35, which lies on the southern end of the TIA.
Among the buildings in the area, west of Pespicola-Jadibuti road, six were found to be on obstacle limitation surface, an area beyond the aerodrome boundary that must be protected from obstacles for safe takeoff and landing of aircraft.
Likewise, four buildings were found to be on the critical zone, meaning that no
further physical structure
can be added to them. Rest of the buildings have been cleared by the Khadka-led committee.
Earlier, people living in the area had filed a complaint at parliamentary development committee after the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal had decided to reacquire 149 ropanis of land eight years after the owners were permitted to build houses on their plots. Caan’s move was aimed at constructing drainage and extending airport perimeter for preventing construction of houses on the southern side of the airport for air safety.
The KMC has not yet officially decided the fate of the buildings that have found to be threatening air safety, but sources say they will most likely be demolished.
The process of land acquisition in the area started in 1979 and locals had been forbidden to build houses there for more than 25 years, envisaging that more land would be required for the airport. However, locals started building structures after the government dropped the plan through a Cabinet decision in 2007.
The tendency to build houses, violating safety perimeters set by authorities is common in Kathmandu. According to KMC Chief Executive Officer Rudra Singh Tamang, most of the homeowners get their building blueprint designed as per the building laws and get them approved first, but add on to the structure later. He also said that homeowners do not come to receive house completion certificates—proof that the said building is built as per the approved design.
Findings is based on an obstacle survey by KMC team led by engineer
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