The Khumaltar transmission tower used by Radio Nepal to cover Kathmandu is being reduced from 97 meters to 45 meters to help improve air safety at Nepal’s Tribhuvan International Airport.
The tower is located southeast of Kathmandu, outside of Lalitpur, and is in a secondary flight path of the airport, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).
According to a Himalayan News Service report, Radio Nepal, CAAN and Qatar Airways reached an agreement to reduce the tower height. Currently, airplanes using the secondary route must carry less weight than their carrying capacity to ensure that they can climb quickly enough to avoid the tower.
The airline is providing 20 million Nepalese rupees for the project to help ensure that Radio Nepal’s transmission quality is not diminished; CAAN is covering the customs duty for the equipment.
The site is home to three 100 kW shortwave transmitters. The tower is to be shortened during March 2011.
Qatar Airways has flights between Doha, Qatar, and Kathmandu twice daily.
