The under construction New Islamabad Airport’s authorities have said that the new airport would be completed by mid 2016, however the exact estimate of the project had not been revealed.
A senior official of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that almost 98 percent of the civil works and hydrant re-fueling systems and 55 percent work on the air traffic control had been completed.
However, the official sources of the CAA are reluctant to give figures regarding the cost of the project and the reasons behind the delay.
The airport that was due to be operational by December 2013, but now the concerned authorities, while adopting a more pro-active approach, claim that the construction work of the airport would be completed by the mid of 2016.
It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had set the end of March next year as the new deadline for the completion of the airport during his visit which he made in March this year.
During that visit the prime minister had expressed dismay over the delay in the completion of project and also ordered a high-level enquiry to determine the causes of inordinate delay in meeting its original cut-off date.
The groundbreaking of the project was performed in April 2007 and it was supposed to be completed within 30 months, initially the cost of the project was estimated to be Rs 37 billion.
Later, PC-I of the project was revised in March 2012 at a cost of Rs 66 billion.
The CAA had once again revised its expenditures putting them at Rs 95 billion and October 2016 was the anticipated completion date of the project.
Currently, the Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) is the only operational airport of the capital city.
However, with the passage of time and increase in the number of air passengers, the BBIA would not be able of meeting the needs of the people.
It will be a miracle if the airport is completed by 2016 because no body has any interest in this project. The last govt took the cream out of this project & there is nothing much left for the new govt officials therefor they are more interested in projects like Jangla bus. The present airport looks like a Lari Adda. Will some one look into this matter & try to get the airport operational in our life time.
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