KATHMANDU: Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand has raised questions about the investment cost of Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) that is being built with Chinese government loan.

Speaking on the occasion of World Consumer Rights Day Tuesday, he said that the cost of PRIA was much higher than that of Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairawaha. Noting that GBIA was much smaller than PRIA, he wondered why the cost of construction of PRIA was much higher.

“As a Home Minister, I should refrain from naming the particular airport and the investing nation,” he said.

He also viewed that there should be a healthy debate on the investment in development projects of the country. He added huge investments were poured into comparatively smaller infrastructure in Bhairahawa and Pokhara.

“The cost of constructing Bhairahawa airport, which has a 3,000-meter runway, stands at around Rs 7 billion, excluding compensation, but the cost of another airport having only 2,500-m long runway is around Rs 21 billion.” He wondered why it was so.