Multan airport opening: Nawaz seeks NAP-style consensus for development

PM offers an opportunity to set development agenda

MULTAN:

While referring to the new counter-terrorism strategy, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the recently evolved national consensus against terrorism offers an opportunity to carve out a national development agenda. In the same breath, he called upon all political parties to come up with a ‘national action plan’ for development for the country’s bright future.

The political and military leadership is on the same page in their commitment to eliminating terrorism and the National Action Plan is being implemented in a flawless manner to root out terrorism, the prime minister said while speaking at the inauguration of the modern Multan International Airport.

This political consensus, the premier said, can be instrumental in devising a national development agenda. For this purpose, he said all political parties should come forward and agree on a ‘national action plan’ for development and lend support to the government for the country’s development and prosperity.

Speaking about the project, the prime minister said the new well-equipped terminal of the Multan International Airport would link southern Punjab with the rest of the world and have a positive impact on national economy.



He underscored the need for continuity of the development process, saying that it should not change with the change in government. Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had laid the foundation of the Multan International Airport and the PML-N government has completed it with seriousness because it is meant to facilitate people and boost national economy, he added.

The premier visited various sections of the airport. He was briefed about the modern facilities by his Special Assistant on Aviation Shujaat Azim. Gilani was specially invited to the inauguration ceremony. Premier Nawaz said Gilani deserved the credit for the project. “This is the way things should move, where one government initiates a project and the next completes it,” he added.

He said Multan, being a major agricultural and industrial centre, would greatly benefit from the air link. Special mango flights from Multan would take the sweetness of local mangoes to people across the globe. Similarly textiles, handicrafts and other industries would directly benefit from the facility.

The prime minister noted that the proposal for the construction of four air bridges at Multan airport would fall short of the growing demand and said he foresaw the demand for another 40 air bridges in near future as more international airlines would start their flight operations.

He said Multan would be connected to Lahore at a cost of Rs130 billion and with Sukkur at a cost of Rs242 billion.

An amount of Rs55 billion has been allocated for acquisition of land for Karachi-Lahore motorway, he said, adding that he would soon be breaking ground on the project at Hyderabad. He hoped that the project would be ready by 2017 and people would prefer to travel by road.

Cargo complex

The Multan airport manager, Mehmood Gull, told The Express Tribune that the cargo complex of the airport would have a storage facility of 10,000 tons. Project Director Sheikh Ataa added that an application has been sent to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) seeking licence for duty-free shops at the airport.

Security arrangements of international standards have been put in place at the airport, he said, adding that latest CCTV cameras, ASF control room, monitoring system and latest scanners have been installed at the facility.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2015.