Construction works have halted on the extension of Gautam Buddha International Airport in Nepal due to the shortage of the river-based construction materials.
News website nepal24hours.com reported that North West Civil Aviation Construction Company, the Chinese construction firm carrying out the work, said it could not extract riverbed aggregates due to the lockdown announced by the Nepalese government for prevention and control of COVID-19.
The airport serves the town of Siddharthanagar and is being converted into an international terminal. The extension project on the airport, also known as Bhairahawa Airport, will make turn it into Nepal’s second international airport and will relieve pressure on Tribhuvan International Airport near the capital Kathmandu.
Only 10% of construction work (including the airport perimeter road) remains to be completed. Work has been finished on the construction of the runway, the international terminal building, taxiway, control tower, rescue and fire-fighting facilities, installation of CCTV and some technical equipment.
The project has been delayed several times since it started in 2015, with the latest deadline being 31 March this year.
