The development work of the 800 meters of Runway at the Meghauli Airport in Western Chitwan has progressed further recently. High-level embankments are being constructed on the Runway, which passes through grasslands.
According to Chandramani Sapkota, the Chief of the Meghauli Airport project, drains and slab culverts have been constructed at the airport until now after around 6 months of initiating the upgrade project. The airport’s Runway will be graveled and leveled in this phase of upgrade.
The new Runway at the airport, which had a grassland of one thousand one hundred meters, will be seven hundred meters long and twenty meters wide after upgrade with decrement in the overall usable runway length. He indicated that additional upgrades and expansions could be made in the future, with the first phase focusing on constructing high-level embankments.
A construction company has been working on upgrading the Runway in Meghauli Airport at a cost of around 120 million rupees. Previously, Nepal army has was seen conducting training exercises and Para Jump exercises in the Meghauli airport which has stopped foe now due to the construction. Hotels in Meghauli are also offering helicopter and airplane charters that has significantly increased the air traffic flow in Meghauli Airport.
Previously, using digital technology, a topographic survey was conducted for the airport’s master plan. The airport, which was only a grassland when it wasn’t being developed, faced closure after the government formulated a policy not to operate hotels within the Chitwan National Park. The airport was closed from Mangsir 2067 BS, however, Nepal Army had been conducting flights in the airport with their own security and management at the airport.
After that, a Nepal Airlines flight was operated once. Meghauli is 24 kilometers south of Bharatpur. The airport covers an area of about 23 hectares and has a good operational potentiality for the increasing number of tourists in Meghauli.
