New Islamabad Airport: ICCI wants speedy completion

The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) is concerned by delays in the completion of the new Islamabad Airport, according to a press release issued by the ICCI on Saturday. ICCI President Zafar Bakhtawari said the new airport project was initiated in 2007 and was to be completed by December 2011, but due to long delays, its cost has reportedly skyrocketed from Rs35 billion to Rs73 billion. He said timely completion of the new airport was needed to project a positive image of Pakistan to tourists. Bakhtawari further implied that the current Islamabad airport is insufficient to manage heavy loads of cargo and passenger traffic, thus the early completion of new airport has assumed additional significance.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2013.