Chinese workers arrive for remaining work of PIA

KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 28

Chinese workers have arrived in Kathmandu to continue with the construction work of Pokhara International Airport (PIA).

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), workers arrived here on Sunday and have already departed for the construction site without any delay.

A total of 52 Chinese workers have returned to work after being inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine.

Recently, the Chinese government had made it mandatory for all the citizens to get COVID-19 vaccine before travelling outside the country and after getting vaccinated they need to rest for a month. Because of this provision, the workers were late in arriving, stated CAAN.

According to Binesh Munakarmi, project chief of PIA, a total of 158 Chinese workers have received approval to come to Nepal for construction of the airport. Among them, 52 have already arrived while the remaining workers are in the process in China to depart for Nepal.

Among the 52 workers who have arrived, 15 are technicians while the remaining 37 are interior workers. More than 200 workers, including Nepali and Chinese nationals, are currently working at the construction site.

“More Chinese workers will reach here soon. Even though the work was affected during the pandemic, we believe the work will be taken forth at a rapid pace from January,” Munakarmi said, adding, “We are working with an aim to complete the construction work within the next six months.”

So far, the project has achieved 68 per cent physical progress. Of the remaining 32 per cent of work, 14 per cent consists of civil works while 18 per cent is related to technical aspects.

Earlier, with the increasing threat of COVID-19 infection, the Chinese workers had been refusing to come to Nepal. However, as people are being inoculated in China, there are reports that more workers are preparing to come to Nepal, he added.

 

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