China-built airport in Nepal littered with corruption, finds inquiry

A government inquiry into a new $216 million international airport in Nepal's second-biggest city found that "irregularities and corruption" by officials and lawmakers had allowed a Chinese state-owned contractor to ignore its obligations and charge for work it never completed.

- BHADRA SHARMA & DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI

In a 36-page report released on Thursday, a parliamentary committee's investigation into the airport in Pokhara found that China CAMC Engineering, the construction arm of a state-owned conglomerate, Sinomach, had failed to pay taxes, had not finished the project to specification and had used poor-quality construction, all because of corruption and a lack of oversight.

In 2023, The New York Times reported that CAMC had inflated the project's cost and undermined Nepal's efforts to maintain quality control, prioritizing its own business interests. Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority, the agency overseeing the airport's construction, was reluctant to upset Beijing on an important project for both countries.

Shortly afterward, an 11-member parliamentary committee started investigating the airport's construction.

The international airport in Pokhara has become a financial albatross for the impoverished country, serving as a cautionary tale about the consequences of borrowing heavily from China for major infrastructure projects.