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Caan invites bids to extend taxiway at TIA
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) has invited bids to extend the parallel taxiway in the southern part of the runway of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) has invited bids to extend the parallel taxiway in the southern part of the runway of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
As the taxiway does not extend along the full length of the runway, aircraft face delays before landing and taking off as they have to wait for other aircraft to clear the runway, creating congestion at the country’s sole international airport.
On Monday, the Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project issued an invitation for the pre-qualification of the bidders for the extension of the parallel taxiway in the southern part of the runway. The length of the new taxiway will be at least 1,000 metres. The project said that bids would be invited in September.
“Similarly, bids for the extension of the taxiway in the northern side will be invited by September,” said Sanjiv Gautam, director general of Caan.
The aim of lengthening the parallel taxiway is to reduce waiting time for aircraft before take-off and landing, he said. At present, each aircraft is required to wait 10-15 minutes.
There are two parallel taxiway projects: Extension of the parallel taxiways in the northern and southern parts of the runway. The northern part is jointly funded by the government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Caan is building the southern part with its own resources.
The extension of the 1,400-metre parallel taxiway in the northern part of the runway and construction of a new international apron come under Package 3 of TIA’s Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project that has stalled since December 2016.
Spanish contractor Sanjose and Caan signed a contract for the TIA Modernisation Project, now known as Air Transport Capacity Enhancement Project, in December 2012 with the completion deadline set for March 2016.
Caan was forced to fire the Spanish company by officially issuing a ‘notice of termination’ on December 9, 2016 for delays. The termination of the contract became effective on December 27, 2016.
In four years, the project recorded a meagre 17 percent physical progress. In June 2017, Caan again invited bids to get the stalled project moving. It also broke up the project undertaken by the Spanish company into four different packages.
Package 1 includes extending the runway by 300 metres. Package 2, which includes construction of an international terminal building and associated works, has already been awarded to a Nepali contractor under national competitive bidding. Package 3 consists of building a parallel taxiway and international apron. Package 4 consists of soil filling works on the northern side of the airport, and it is yet to be awarded.