The 12-member committee investigating alleged irregularities in the construction of the Pokhara International Airport, led by Rastriya Prajatantra Party chair Rajendra Lingden, has unearthed irregularities and corruption in construction, as well as the exemption of taxes to the Chinese construction companies. The subcommittee formed by the House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee stated in its report released on Thursday that a large sum of money, approximately NPR 14 billion, was embezzled in the development of physical infrastructure, equipment, runways, and vicinity construction of the PIA project.

The PIA was to be built for Rs 22 billion with a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China and was finally completed at a cost of approximately NPR 25 billion on December 29, 2022.  Although the facility was officially launched in January 2023, the airport has not witnessed any regular international flights except a few chartered ones. 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖺𝗂𝗋𝗉𝗈𝗋𝗍 is a 𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝖢𝗁𝗂𝗇𝖺’𝗌 𝖡𝖾𝗅𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖱𝗈𝖺𝖽 𝖨𝗇𝗂𝗍𝗂𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 is expected to 𝖿𝖺𝖼𝖾 𝗋𝖾𝗉𝖺𝗒𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗌.