Kathmandu, June 30: A delayed decision of the Civil Aviation Authority Nepal (CAAN) in allocating land for shifting the Nepal Oil Corporation’s depot from Sinamangal to another side of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) has delayed the shifting process.

Considering the security risks, the government decided to relocate the Nepal Oil Corporation's aviation fuel depot located in Sinamangal, the corporation clarified that the transfer of the depot has been delayed because CAAN has not transferred the ownership of the land.

The head of the Sinamangal depot of the Corporation, Pradeep Kumar Yadav, stated in a press conference on Sunday that due to the unclear demarcation of the land designated by the authority (separating the four corners), site clearance, and the presence of structures in the proposed depot area, it is becoming difficult to proceed with the relocation of the depot.

 “We have repeatedly requested the Authority to demarcate the four corners of the land and to finalize the land transfer agreement,” he said, “but apart from removing the soil debris, there has been no progress in acquiring the land in the last eight months.

The cabinet meeting decided to relocate the depot to the northern part of the TIA citing that the depot posed a security challenge at the airport. Following the crash of a Saurya Airlines aircraft at the airport, aviation experts suggested relocating the oil depot for air safety.

According to the master plan prepared by the airport's Air Traffic Capacity Enhancement Project, preparations are being made to relocate the Sinamangal depot to that area. To increase the airport's air traffic capacity, the authority is working to upgrade the airport, making it wider and safer. Although the authority has allocated around 60 ropanis of land in the Golf Course area of Gauchar for the relocation of the depot, the Corporation has indicated that there are various problems in obtaining that land.

Despite the Corporation repeatedly urging for a land agreement, there has been no progress in that regard, said depot chief Yadav.

People’s News Monitoring Service.