Kathmandu, March 18 -- The Finance Ministry holds the number one spot in the list of non-paying tenants at Tribhuvan International Airport with more than Rs548 million in outstanding rentals.

Airport officials told the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee on Sunday that nearly 200 tenants, including airlines, shops and restaurants, owe them a combined Rs2.47 billion in rentals and fees. They said they had sent six reminders to the Finance Ministry as of March 2016 requesting it to settle the outstanding rentals of its customs office housed at the airport.

Rajan Pokhrel, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, told the Public Accounts Committee that on July 10, 2018, the Finance Ministry had requested it to w...