Kathmandu, May 13 -- The contractor for Gautam Buddha International Airport being built in Bhairahawa has stopped work complaining that it has not been paid. The stoppage has dealt another blow to the national pride project which has been facing endless delays since construction started in 2013.

An anonymous source at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the project executing agency, told the Post that the Tourism Ministry 'intentionally' delayed forwarding paperwork to the Finance Ministry to release payment of around Rs200 million to the contractor Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction Group. The Chinese company has been complaining about the delayed payment for the last two weeks, he said.

"We don't know the reason behind k...