New Islamabad airport: Completion date may go well beyond end-2016

CAA is currently working on a revised date which will soon be announced

ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority raised the spectre of a further delay in the completion of Islamabad’s new airport after its officials warned that it may well go beyond the end of 2016.

However, the CAA is reluctant to give a precise date in this regard.

A senior CAA official told The Express Tribune that there was no chance of the project being completed within the stipulated deadline of December.



“We have to wait till next year or even beyond that for the project to become operational,” a senior CAA official, privy to the development said. The official, who wished not to be named, said the authority was currently working on the revised date which would soon be announced.

When contacted, CAA spokesperson Amir Mehboob said the authority cannot provide an exact date by when the mega project will be completed. However, in his short comment, he said a formal announcement in this regard will be made after the Eid holidays.

Almost a month ago, the CAA told the Public Accounts Committee that project would be completed by December 25.

Meanwhile, work on construction of approach roads to the airport and dams to meet water needs of the airport was being carried out at a faster pace.



For financial year 2016-17, the federal government allocated a sum of Rs6.2 billion under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for roads and dams construction.

A sum of Rs3 billion were marked for the construction of road networks, including the main link, the Thalian link and periphery road, and Rs2.3 billion for the construction of approach road networks, including acquisition of land and shifting of utilities from the area.

“Funds have recently been released by the government to the National Highway Authority (NHA), which has started work on building approach roads,” said the official.

Meanwhile, Rs900.8 million were set aside for the construction of two rainwater harvesting dams – Rama and Kasana dams.

“The site of the new airport near Fateh Jang is almost barren, with no availability of underground water,” the official said.

“Central Development Working Party (CDWP) approved the Rama and Kasana dams on March 31 last year. In the first phase, work on the construction of Rama dam at a cost of Rs1.6 billion has been taken up,” he said, adding that nearly 10 per cent work on the
dam had so far been completed.



Rama dam is identified as the most feasible of three proposed rainwater reservoir sites in the airport vicinity. The site meets the requirement for supply of at least two million gallons per day to the new airport.

“Work on water reservoirs and approach roads will be completed till March 2017,” the official said.

Talking about technical and design flaws in airport runways, the official said, the CAA had decided not to revise the design.

“One runway will be enough to cater to the needs,” he said, adding any design change at this stage would have huge financial repercussions, while it would also delay the project.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2016.