Kathmandu: Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered the government not to build a controversial international airport in the country’s south.
The order comes four years after judges issued a stay on the $3.45-billion Nijgadh International Airport Project after activists filed a petition citing environmental concerns. Nijgadh would have become the country’s second international aviation hub.
The court annulled the government’s decision to build the international airport in Nijgadh and ordered it to seek an alternative site that meets legal and environmental requirements.
In response to the petition, a full bench of justices Hari Krishna Karki, Bishwambhar Prasad Shrestha, Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada, Prakash Man Singh and Manoj Kumar Sharma issued the order on Thursday.
With the verdict, all the decisions the government has made in relation to the Nijgadh airport project have been turned void, according to a Supreme Court source.
The court has told the government to seek an alternative if it needs another international airport.