Bhairahawa and Pokhara International Airports: Now that we have them, what do we do with them?

 Just to be clear. The new Pokhara Regional International Airport, whatever that means, should never have been built. An eight lane Express-way replete with tunnels et al, linking Pokhara to the newly built Bhairahawa International Airport would have served everyone, including the Nepali economy, much better. That the Chinese stuffed this project down the Government of Nepal’s throat is no secret and much will be said and written about that modus operandi well into the future. Which brings us to Bhairahawa International. That the Asian Development Bank approved loans based on assumptions about concessions that India would make to show their neighborliness is going to be taught in classrooms for a long time.

So, now that we have them, what do we do with them? Two spanking new airports and no international flights to anywhere. One could say, “Let’s go look at the business plans again”. But I think if these existed someone would have dusted them off and taken a look by now. Or we could sit around pointing fingers and take the proverbial Nepali blame game to a new level and that would still not serve any purpose.

However, we could collectively gather, preferably without the people who participated in bringing us to this state of affairs, brainstorm, critically examine our options, and make plans to make the best of what we already have and are going to have to pay for well into the future. I will try to present my own two bits.  

So, let us get started. Pokhara first. Tourist city. No industry to speak of. 2500-meter runway. Surrounded by hills and mountains. The only positive that jumps out of that list is that Pokhara is a tourist city. As a tourist destination it has scarce peers in the region. Its obvious competitive advantage is the unparalleled mountain scenery, and its comparative edge lies in the already extant facilities to support many more tourists yearly, than it already does. Add to that mix its position as a premier provider of adventure activities and the direction on what has to be done here is quite evident. Increased access from the rest of Nepal is a good place to start. Active lobbying using track I, II, III and whatever other track of diplomacy it takes get Indian and Chinese Airlines to launch flights to this gem in Nepal’s west will leverage these advantages and eventually justify the new airport.

Then let us look at Bhairahawa. Here it gets a little more complicated. Surprisingly, however, the earnings prospects are also better than Pokhara airport. The birthplace of the Buddha. Nascent industrial base with possibilities. Nearby population hot spots with many migrants hoping to fly to the middle east and southeast Asia. 3500-meter runway, low altitude location, space for expansion, ability to host the likes of the A350 and the B777 airplanes in addition to anything smaller. With so many choices what to do here is not at once apparent. Obviously, the competitive advantage offered by the location of Lumbini, the birthplace off The Buddha stands out and rightly so. But there are other things that could prove to be the dealmakers, as it were, in Bhairahawa’s favor and depending on the pilgrims alone has never been a very sound tourism marketing plan.

So, to cash in on the competitive advantage presented by Lumbini we need to ramp up our efforts to attract not just the pilgrims but, anyone with an interest in Buddhism or the life of The Buddha. At the same time efforts must be expended to make operating into the airport viable for airlines by fixing the air routes and the ILS operations by taking things up directly at the highest levels with the Government of India and engaging in whatever diplomatic track we have to.  A Free Trade Zone needs to be established attached to the airport where raw or semi-finished imports can come in free of duty, value addition works can be carried out and semi-finished or finished products can be re-exported by air. A Logistics Park can be set up to allow Logistics companies to operate here as well. This will ensure that when the airport in not making money on passenger flights it will do so with freighter flights and the FTZ will generate much needed employment and income tax free income for those employed there which will obviously be spent on goods and services outside of the FTZ where it will contribute to the economy. The units set up inside the FTZ will also be able to use domestically produced electricity which will not have to be exported on the cheap. And because the airport can take modern wide-body twinjets the economies of freighter operations will also work out.

The government of Nepal must also wake up to the fact that you can’t go around putting in infrastructure hoping that others will make it pay! We need to invest in our airlines to enable them to get the correct equipment to operate flights from Pokhara to nearby Indian and Chinese airports and from Bhairahawa to the wider world and put in the necessary diplomatic efforts to enable those flights. The situation as it stands is akin to building new garages in our homes which are not connected to any road and hoping to rent them out to the neighbors. If one does not have road access and any intention to buy cars then rationally, one should not be investing in garages. No? Even if the interest on the loan to build the garage was too good to resist!