The Nation · Megaproject · Aviation
Gautam Buddha International Airport, Bhairahawa
गौतम बुद्ध अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय विमानस्थल, भैरहवा
USD 95.95M ADB-led build. Opened five years late. Mostly empty.
Original cost
USD 76.00M
as of 2014
Current cost
USD 95.95M
+26% overrun
Approved
2014-04
Deadline 2017
Delivered
2022-05-16
5 years late
How we got here
Pitched as a religious-tourism gateway to Lumbini, GBIA was approved in 2014 with a 2017 target. Construction by Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group (China) ran five years long; the airport opened on 16 May 2022. As of mid-2026 it operates very limited international traffic, with Jazeera Airways and a handful of regional carriers maintaining intermittent service. The OAGN has flagged the gap between projected and realised traffic in successive annual reports.
The short version
Nepal borrowed USD 87.5 million from ADB and the OPEC Fund to build an international airport near Lumbini. It opened in 2022, five years late. Almost no international flights use it.
Who paid for it
Asian Development Bank
multilateral
USD 76 million
Concessional loan
OPEC Fund for International Development
multilateral
USD 11.5 million (co-financing)
Who built it
Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group
China · EPC contractor
2015–2022
completed
Implementing authority: Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN)
Timeline
2009
Project feasibility approved
2014-04
ADB Loan 3260-NEP signed (USD 76M)
Source: ADB
2015
Northwest Civil Aviation begins construction
2017
Original target completion — missed
2022-05-16
Airport opens
Source: CAAN
2022-06
Jazeera Airways begins service from Kuwait
Source: CAAN
2024
OAGN flags low utilisation
Source: OAGN
Delivered
Airport built, runway and terminal operational, religious-tourism arrivals possible.
Failed to deliver
Volume target. Indian airspace approvals for direct routing not secured at scale. Loan service continues on underutilised asset.
Sources · cited verbatim
Asian Development Bank — Gautam Buddha Airport Project — Completion Report (Loan 3260-NEP)
Open release checked 2024-09-30Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal — GBIA — Operational status reports
Open release checked 2024-11-20Office of the Auditor General Nepal — OAGN Annual Report — CAAN section
Open release checked 2024-08-15
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