Is army shifting its base?

Master plan for shifting General Headquarters (GHQ) from Rawalpindi to Islamabad is under consideration.

Announcement for starting construction work in respect of GHQ at Islamabad will be made as soon as the review of master plan is completed. Final decision in this respect has been taken at high level.

Defence Secretary Lt Gen (r) Alam Khan Khattak said decision for shifting GHQ from Rawalpindi to Islamabad had already been taken and construction work on this county had started. However, in October 2008 the then army chief had stopped the work keeping in view the situation prevailing at that time.

As per elementary estimates the project will cost Rs 60 billion. The project was inaugurated in September, 2004 and work was started in 2007. 10 percent work on this defence complex has been completed. This project will be completed in three phases. In the two phases air force and navy will be shifted and in the third phase, defence ministry, joint staff headquarters and GHQ will be shifted.

Overall 2,500 acres land has been allocated for this project while GHQ will be constructed on 99 acres land and 20 acres land each has been allotted to defence ministry and joint staff headquarters.