The international airport project in Nijgadh, Bara has fixed the compensation amount for the land it will be acquiring to build it. It has also published a 35-day notice for landowners to apply for compensation.

The international airport planned to be built in Nijgadh, 175 km from Kathmandu in the southern plains, has been envisioned as an alternative to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The country’s sole aerial gateway has become severely congested, and it is frequently rendered inoperable by fog during the winter.

The project has marked out 110 bighas of private land it needs. The land parcels have been divided into three categories: land adjoining main road, land adjoining feeder road and land not connected by road. The compensation amount for different types of plots varies accordingly.

The project has offered Rs460,000 per kattha for land adjoining main road, Rs339,250 per kattha for land adjoining feeder road and Rs241,500 per kattha for land not connected by road. The project has also fixed the compensation amount for houses and fences which ranges from Rs300 to Rs100,000 per square foot.

As per the notice, landowners are required to harvest their crops from the land within a month. They have been forbidden to cut trees or plants, but they will be compensated for the plants. According to the project, there are 112 private houses for which compensations needs to be given.

“We have planned to complete the compensation distribution process by this fiscal year which ends in mid-July,” said Hari Adhikari, chief of the project. The government has allocated Rs2.5 billion for the much-delayed project for this fiscal year. Of the total amount, Rs1 billion has been earmarked for land compensation.

More than 90 percent of the land proposed to be taken over for the project is forest land. Likewise, there are an estimated 1,450 squatters occupying the planned construction site. According to Adhikari, they have not done anything to resettle them.

“The resettlement of squatters should be done through a separate mechanism.” Currently, the project has appointed a consultant to carry out an environmental and social impact assessment.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) has estimated that the proposed second international airport in Nijgadh can be constructed at a cost of Rs121 billion, excluding the proposed airport city.

A preliminary internal financial assessment conducted by Caan has proposed building a 4,000-metre runway.

Likewise, Caan has proposed building a 100,000-square-metre international passenger terminal building. Caan said the airport would be able to handle 20 million passengers annually in the first phase.