Islamabad: Work on the New Islamabad International Airport (NIIA) and its access roads will be completed by the end of the current year. However, making the airport operational will take another six to eight months.
This was stated by Secretary Aviation Division Irfan Elahi while briefing the Senate standing committee on cabinet secretariat on the progress of work on the project on Tuesday.
He also said in future no-objection certificates cannot be issued to housing societies without the approval of the Aviation Division.
Mr Elahi added that though the timeline for the completion of the airport depended on the timely delivery of equipment, the progress of work at the site was quite satisfactory. He said for the supply of water to the new airport, two reservoirs would be constructed. Work on Ramma Dam is in progress while the process to acquire land for Kassana Dam has been started. Ramma Dam is being built at a cost of Rs1,657 million and will provide 3.3 million gallons of water per day. The Kassana Dam will be constructed next year which will supply 503 million gallons of water daily to the airport.
Senate body told that making airport operational will take another six to eight months
“Quite an impressive progress has been observed in the development work since December 2015. Moreover, 282 acres of land for the Ramma Dam has been acquired,” Mr Elahi claimed.
It may be mentioned that the airport project was conceived in 1984 and the same year the process to purchase land for it was started near Fatehjang. The land was purchased at rates ranging from Rs30,000 per kanal to Rs500,000 per kanal.
In 2004, the then prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, laid the foundation of the airport. But the construction work was started without the approval of any design.
The initial PC-I of Rs37 billion was approved in 2008 but the fuel system, radar and radio control building, aprons for planes, a sewerage treatment plant, electricity and availability of water were missing in the PC-I.
Currently, the operational airport near Rawalpindi caters to three million people per year and has 20 check-in counters and parking area for 700 vehicles. The new airport with 90 check-in counters and parking facility for 2,000 vehicles will cater to over nine million people every year.
Senator Kalsoom Parveen, a member of the committee, said for the last one decade she had been hearing about the construction of the new airport.
“We have heard many times that housing societies have occupied the land or they have started construction in the area in which construction was banned. The initial cost of the project estimated at Rs35 billion has now jumped to Rs100 billion. I am doubtful that the project may further be delayed,” she said.
But the project director, Pervez Hayat Khan, said construction activities in the 200-foot area around the boundary of the airport were banned and there was no housing society in that area.
Senator Shahi Syed of the ANP said work on the project was inaugurated in a hurry but now quality should be ensured.
The chairman of the committee, Talha Mehmood, said due to the delay in the project, public money was wasted. Further delay will not be tolerated, he said.
During the briefing, an official of the National Highway Authority (NHA) said the access road for the airport from the capital would be completed by December 2016. However, he added that a 2.6 kilometre-long patch of the road, from Golra Chowk onward, needed to be widened by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).
Sajjad Zaidi, the deputy director general (works) of the CDA, informed the committee that an amount of Rs650 million had been sought under the PSDP for the project. He, however, said the land on which the additional lanes were to be constructed was under the control of the army.
“We are taking up the matter with the armed forces and another option is to realign the road,” he said.
Senator Osman Saifullah Khan said the CDA should take up the matter with the army properly.
Senator Talha Mehmood directed the CDA to inform the committee in details how many times the matter was taken up with the army.
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