New Islamabad International Airport
The airport will be completed by the end of 2016
Dunya News Report (Jibran Dost)
ISLAMABAD: New Islamabad International Airport is an under construction international airport in Attock District (Fateh Jang). The cost of the project according to The Planning Commission-1 was Rs. 37 billion but has increased to Rs. 81 billion and very likely to surpass the revised cost of PC-1.
The airport project was conceived in 1984 and The Planning Commission 1 (PC-1) was prepared in 2004. However construction on the project began in 2007.
The Aviation Division in a briefing to National Assembly in March 2015 stated that the airport will be completed by the end of 2016. However the project is still under construction and not completed.
Captain Shujaat Azeem, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Aviation while talking to Dr. Moeed Pirzada on his programme Tonight with Moeed Pirzada said that the cost of PC-1 has increased because the Prime Minister has ordered 13 aero bridges instead of nine aero bridges. In addition, the initial PC-1 cost included only the runway, taxi track and the building. It did not include radar, ATC tower, baggage handling, Air Field lightening and security system.
He also stressed that as of today, 90 per cent of the work is completed and it is very likely that the project will finish by the end of this year.
However, the project is facing a number of problems in regard to the access road and water facilities.
There is no ground water available in the project even at 1,000 feet below the surface of the earth. On the other hand, the mushroom growth of private housing societies around the new airport is also considered to pose serious security threats.
There is no access road to the new airport, “Access road is the responsibility of National Highway Authority,” responded Cpt Shujat Azeem. “Aviation Division’s provision ends in the airport” he added.
He also said that National Highway Authority (NHA) is working on a fast track for the airport.
Moreover, the project director also denied the allegations of corruption against the contractor and said that he was a professional engineer himself being conversant with the technicalities of the construction work and no one including any contractor could commit any irregularity in his presence.
While talking to the media, Cpt Shujat expressed that the new airport will have ILS CAT III system, that will provide precision landing and help flight operations during low visibility and fog.
An ILS operates as ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision lateral and vertical guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), such as low ceilings or reduced visibility due to fog, rain, or blowing snow.
The system is currently functional in Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore.
After the new airport is operational, the existing Benazir International Airport will be used as a domestic airport.
Testing of the new airport will begin in September this year and the Aviation Division expressed that it is trying hard to complete the project in the due time.
