New Islamabad airport: ‘Negligent’ CAA liable for completion delays, says CJP

CAA chief’s response to petition challenging his appointment in next hearing.

ISLAMABAD:

A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday questioned the delays in completion of the new Benazir Bhutto International Airport and resultant cost escalation. 

“It is alarming to learn that the cost of the project had skyrocketed from Rs35 billion to Rs73 billion due to the delaying in completion of a project which was initially to be finished by December 2011,” observed Justice Chaudhry, adding that it may be considered a case of criminal negligence by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials.

Appearing before the court, CAA Director General Air Marshal (retd) Khalid Chaudhry admitted that his department could be blamed for the delay, but added that he was only appointed to supervise the project last November.

The bench, also comprising Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Justice Gulzar Ahmed, was hearing a petition filed by Advocate Asif Fasihuddin Khan, who had challenged the appointment of Khalid Chaudhry as DG CAA and the delay in the project.



The new airport project was initiated in 2007 and was to be completed in 2011, but there are no signs of completion in the near future, said the petitioner, adding that the cost could further escalate to Rs90 billion.

Challenging the appointment of Chaudhry as CAA DG, the petitioner claimed the DG had no engineering qualifications --- a requirement for the post --- and had no experience flying commercial airplanes after retiring from the Pakistan Air Force.

The bench did not focus on the appointment issue, but took keen interest in the project completion delay.

Briefing the bench, DG Chaudhry said an inquiry held by Lt Gen (retd) Shahid Niaz on the orders of the Ministry of Defence had pinned responsibility on the Technical Assistant Contractor of the project and consultant Louis Berger Group.

Further explaining the delay, Khalid Chaudhry said that the consultants had delayed preparation of drawings and designs to provide to the contractors for finishing construction work.

He informed the bench that that all other facilities such as airstrip, landing site, fuel hydrants, boundary wall, air traffic controllers (ATC), taxi traces and water supply lines had been completed at a cost of Rs31 billion.

The CAA DG said the project for construction of a passenger terminal worth Rs20 billion was still pending and without its completion, the airport could not start functioning.

The DG then raised all six eyebrows on the bench by revealing that the consultant Louis Berger, an American firm, was hired when it did not have the required qualification.

The company had only three engineers in Pakistan, and even they are not qualified engineers, Khalid Chaudhry added.

He further explained that there were 17 different packages of the project given to as many as 15 contractors, causing a coordination nightmare. The contractors all blamed each other for hindering work. Deferring the hearing for two weeks, the bench directed the CAA DG to file a complete reply about his appointment and the inquiry report by Gen Shahid Niaz regarding the project completion delay.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2013.