Senators rail against lack of facilities at new Islamabad airport

Lawmakers raise questions over ‘bugs’ at terminal building, housing for ASF staff

Senators on Tuesday expressed concerns at poor or zero facilities at the new airport in Islamabad with the aviation division conceding the shortcomings.

This was disclosed during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Aviation at the office hall of the Islamabad International Airport’s (IIA). The meeting was chaired by Senator Mushahidullah Khan.

During the meeting, Senator Maula Bux Chandio highlighted the problems with the new airport by stating that the facility is good, but passengers continue to face a lot of inconveniences owing to inefficiencies and lack of facilities.

Elaborating on what he meant, Chandio pointed to the abysmal condition of the washrooms and that the international departure lounges lack washroom facilities for the differently-abled.



He added that when a plane lands at the airport and the pilot needs presence of civil aviation staff, he cannot communicate it directly to the concerned staff and has to make a public announcement for it.

Moreover, he said that that there was poor management of the boarding pass counter with people crowding around it. Moreover, he said that there were few facilities which would make a trip through the airport more comfortable for senior citizens. Similarly, he pointed out that there were insufficient luggage carts since passengers often have to wait for as long as 30 minutes for one.

Women also have to face several issues, he said.

Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah said that airports all around the world have facilities for the differently-abled, but at this airport, Rs500 are charged upon entering the airport lounge. A further Rs500 is charged just to move the luggage to the car.

He complained that while this is a Pakistani airport, there were just two departure counters for Pakistanis, while all the other counters are dedicated to foreigners.

Moreover, there are no restaurants or shops at the airport for passengers.

He further said that the systems installed at the airport do not recognise the Parliamentarian Tickets given to lawmakers. As a result, he said that they have to travel using vouchers which need to be submitted to the parliament for clearance of dues.

The committee’s chairman Senator Mushahidullah said that all the points raised by the members of the committee should be addressed as soon as possible and facilities of international standards are made available.

He demanded that a report should be submitted to the committee as soon as possible. He further said that the airport should be made more ‘pleasing on the eye’ from the inside and that they can take help from a private company for this purpose.

The committee also instructed the aviation division to build a new lounge in the airport for senior citizens. Surprisingly, Aviation Secretary Saqib Aziz conceded all the issues raised by the senators.

He pointed out that the airport was inaugurated ahead of schedule and that new staff could not be hired in time. To bridge the gap, he said that they had borrowed staff from other airports. Aziz told the committee that the cabinet of the previous government had decided to outsource all facilities and operations at the airport to a single company and a tender had been issued in this regard.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Mushahidullah, who was part of the last cabinet, defended the move to outsource operations of the airport, noting that this is the same process which is followed the world over to keep staff levels low at airports.

He added that in Pakistan, the smallest part of the budget is spent on staff.



Quetta airport

Referring to renovations at Quetta airport, Senator Mir Haasil Bizenjo said that the process was so slow that they could have built an entirely new airport during this time.

He added that thus far only one jetty has been attached which too is not operating yet.

At this, he was told that the operator of the jetty is undergoing training in Karachi and will be available in two weeks to operate the equipment.

While responding to a question from Senator Fida Muhammad, the aviation secretary said that 90 per cent of work on the Peshawar airport was complete and the remaining work is expected to be completed by the end of October.

ASF block

The committee was told that living quarters for Airport Security Force (ASF) will be built over 20-acres of land and the complex will comprise a training ground, administration block, medical centre and a large mosque.

He added that the housing blocks were being built to accommodate 2,577 people. Of these, 1,400 had already moved to the facility.

Aziz added that the aviation authority had asked the finance ministry for Rs66 million but the funds have yet to be released and they had been forced to seek loans.

At this, the committee then asked the finance ministry to release the necessary funds. The committee was further told that the project was initially supposed to cost Rs2.038 billion but after revisions and additions, it ballooned to Rs2.696 billion.

The Amanat Hussain Construction Company had been awarded a contract of Rs1.622 billion after it bid Rs40 million less than its nearest competitor. So far, it had completed around 72 per cent of the work worth Rs1.066 billion.

At this, the committee said that issues raised by the contractor should also be addressed.

Hajj pilgrims

Regarding the inconvenience caused to the Hajj pilgrims, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Director-General Hassan Baig told the committee that Shaheen Air had been given a quota of ferrying around 30,000 Hajj pilgrims.

Since the airline owed some dues and had issues with its leased planes, it airline faced some problems in fulfilling the quota.

As a result, the Ministry for Religious Affairs first reduced the airline’s quota to 22,000 and then to 11,000. However, even this failed to improve the situation.

Finally, the airline was told to transport 5,000 hajj pilgrims from Balochistan to Multan and Karachi.

It was disclosed that Shaheen is currently operating only one aircraft and it still has to bring back 1,150 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.



Referring to woes of the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the committee’s chairman noted that there was a lot of furore in the media about how its crew was allegedly involved in smuggling and money laundering.

Noting that the airline actually makes money through its cargo services, he said that if the marketing department of the flag carrier is made more effective and leaks of adverse news reports are stopped, then the losses of the airline can be bridged. Mushahidullah further said that there was massive corruption in the acquisition of plane parts as well.

He said that Rs7 billion were allocated for the furnishing of the Boeing 777 aircraft which were misappropriated by one person who had fled after committing the fraud.

He said the institutions must keep a check on these things and urged the media to act as a watchdog on these issues rather than maligning airline staff. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2018.