On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
If only a dozen nation loving people will come to the leadership, transforming Nepal into a prosperous country is not impossible. Nepal is a rich country gifted by the nature. Unfortunately, we are unable to harness such natural gifts for the country’s economic prosperity due to the vested personal interests of our political leaders, and the ill-intention of our neighbouring countries and the developed nations.
To be noted, India and other developed Western countries don’t want to see Nepal as a country with a strong economy. It is because it will be costly for them to exploit Nepal’s natural resources by purchasing those people in the country’s leadership.
King Birendra was a nation loving leader. He wanted to transform Nepal into an economically prosperous nation. He had lobbied to construct big hydropower projects including the Arun-3, Kali Gandaki, Budhigandaki, Upper Karnali, and West Seti, among others. Under his active initiative, the Kulekhani reservoir project was constructed, which is the only reservoir project in the country and during the past 32 years, neither the democratic nor the loktantrik governments were able to construct such a project which could produce electricity during the dry season making Nepal all-weather self-reliant on hydropower.
The Arun-3 was the project considered the largest hydropower project in the South Asian Region developed during the 70s and the World Bank, German, and Japan like countries had agreed to fund the project. By 1990, the government had already spent billions of rupees in developing infrastructure for the project.
India and some European countries producing equipment for middle and small hydropower projects were against the construction of such a huge project which could be a game-changer for Nepal’s economy. Those foreign paid Nepalis opposed the construction of the Arun-3 and Kaligandaki projects. Overnight, environmental activists appeared in the Kathmandu streets. They were advocating that the construction of such huge projects could destroy ecological balance and also destroy the environment and displace locals. The UML leaders wrote a letter to the chairman of the World Bank for scrapping the project. Finally, the Arun-3 project, which was going to be constructed at a soft loan that too was going to be exempted by Japan like countries, was cancelled.
After three decades, Nepal handed over the Arun-3 project to India. Now, India is constructing the project and the present government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba has handed over the other project, Arun-4 to India just to please India and retain power. Moreover, the present Deuba government has decided to hand over the West Seti reservoir model multiple project to India. Also, the present India-puppet government is preparing grounds to hand over the much talked about multiple project, Budhi Gandaki to India. Where have gone those environments friendly foreign paid Nepali people, we see nowhere!
India needs Nepal’s water – to fulfill the need for drinking water for its population in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar; water for irrigating land in these areas and also water to operate small and medium-sized ships in the River Ganges from Calcutta to UP. Therefore, the Indians are occupying one after another big river in Nepal. Our India-puppet leaders are handing over rivers to India by achieving personal gains but creating a huge loss to the nation.
The foreigners’ theory is simple to understand keeping Nepal permanently poor and buying Nepali leaders for serving their interests. If Nepal will become a rich country, it would be able to strengthen its security organs and also it would be difficult for foreigners to buy Nepali leadership in serving their interests.
The proposed Nijgadh International Airport is a game-changer project for Nepal, a landlocked country. The Tribhuvan International Airport has already become congested. The recently built international airport in Bhairahawa and the international airport in Pokhara, which is under construction, are the regional type of airports which are unable to operate huge aircraft’s flights.
Nepal is at high risk for natural calamity. If Nepal will face natural calamity, big aircraft should be operated for rescue operations. Considering such calamities, we should construct at least one big airport nearby the country’s capital city.
As Nepal is a landlocked country, we should think about the smooth operation of the air cargo service avoiding hurdles of the land routes in the foreign countries and lengthy shipment procedures. Presently, due to the delayed transportation of cargo consignments, developed countries are thinking about operating air cargo for goods transportation.
The proposed Nijgadh airport is a multiple runway model airport planned for developing as an international hub for air passengers in the region. India doesn’t want the construction and operation of such a multi-proposed airport, which will directly link Nepal with the third countries.
As there are no reasons for stopping construction of the game-changer projects, the environment has become the major issue to disturb, delay and finally cancel such projects.
The Supreme Court never can stop the development projects of a government but the recent verdict from the SC is intended to either suspend or delay the airport construction project.
Already, the Nepal government has spent above one and a half billion rupees on the airport. For the last thirty years, we are talking about the construction of the Airport in Nijgadh and the government is constructing a fast track road to Nijgadh by narrowing the distance between Kathmandu and Nijgadh to one hour. The main purpose of the construction of the fast track is to link Nijgadh with Kathmandu.
Every day we read reports related to the exploitation of the Chure Hills by deforestation, taking out boulders, concrete and sands from rivers. We don’t see those environment-friendly activists but when we talk about the construction of the Nijgadh airport, we can see environmental experts in the streets. In fact, those experts and activists have already purchased houses in the USA and Canada and already sent their kids to these countries from the money they have received by selling the nation’s key interests.
As the aircraft approaching TIA are compelled to stay on hold in the Kathmandu and Simara sky for hours releasing a large quantity of carbon in the air, we can imagine the level of air pollution contributed due to the lack of a mega international airport. We are really unfortunate to have such traitors as our citizens!
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