Nepal keen on NW passage
SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, JUL 29 -
Nepal has once again shown interest in lobbying with China and India to bring into operation the air route dubbed Trans-Himalayan 2 connecting Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) said that Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Sarat Singh Bhandari had assured them that the government would use diplomatic channels to talk with both neighbours to bring the air route into operation.
If the proposed air route is opened, hundreds of international airlines will use Nepali airspace and help the country to develop as a hub, air revenue will be increased and the air distance between China and Southeast Asia will be significantly reduced benefiting the region as a whole.
CAAN officials added that the proposed route would be the shortest and could establish Nepal as an international transit point. The second international airport that the government has planned to construct in Nijgadh this fiscal
year would be the greatest beneficiary.
The proposed route is more direct, safer, economical and efficient for flights between Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. These routes will reduce the congestion of westbound traffic flows across the Bay of Bengal. The officials said that access to international air space would give Nepal a huge opportunity to develop as a hub like India, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in South Asia. They added that international air accessibility had changed the face of Southeast Asia over the period 1979-97.
Laxman Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson at the Ministry of Tourism, said that Nepal had been raising the issue at ICAO and other forums, but that nothing had come of it. He added that the proposed route with maximum coverage of Nepal’s air space on long distance international flights could bring great benefits to the country if they could be brought into operation.
CAAN director general Ram Prasad Neupane said that ICAO had suggested lobbying and signing memorandums of understanding with each country linked with the route. He said that Nepal must sign separate air route agreements with China and India to bring the route into operation. “The issue should be raised through diplomatic channels,” he added.
According to CAAN, Nepal has proposed three air routes -- Himalaya 1 (Bankok-Kolkata-Nepalgunj-Indek in Pakistan), Himalaya 2 (Kunming-Kathmandu-Delhi) and Himalaya 3 (Kathmandu-Nepalgunj-Delhi) at different ICAO meetings and other forums.
“The most lucrative route is Himalaya 2 which is a dream as it requires much effort by Nepal to get India and China to agree,” said Pratap Babu Tiwari, deputy director, Air Traffic Management and Air Route Department, CAAN. He added that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was also interested in the route.
Currently, Nepal has three incoming air routes — Simara, Kakkarbhitta from Paro and the Nonim air route from China. Kathmandu-Mahendra-nagar-Delhi is the outgoing air route for international flights.
