Tourism Minister Ale directs for land acquisition to expand Dhangadhi Airport

DHANGADHI: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Prem Bahadur Ale has directed the subordinate bodies to advance the process for acquiring land to expand the runway at Dhangadhi airport. Minister Ale gave such direction after inspecting the airport on Monday. He has sought immediate submission of a file in the ministry, mentioning the process for land acquisition. Airport chief Ramkrishna Bhatta informed that Minister Ale directed to send a document in written about the status of airport and need of new infrastructures for its upgrading. "With the Minister's direction, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal will submit the necessary files to the ministry soon," he said. A total of 311 bighas of land is required for the expansion of the Dhangadhi Airport. For this, 228 bighas of land should be acquired now. Meanwhile, the airport has only 83 bighas of land now. It has been learnt that the passenger pressure has grown recently since the airport has begun conducting flights in the hilly areas.