June 15, 2015
News
New Islamabad airport to get Rs 690m
APPISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) would spend Rs 690 million this year for development of sustainable rainwater resources, completion of under-construction main meteorological office and establishment of accommodation for personnel of the Airport Security Force (ASF) at New Islamabad International Airport (NIIA).
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) had approved for development of sustainable rain water resources and construction of Ramma dam in March to meet water requirements of the new airport with an estimated cost of Rs 1,657 million, out of which Rs 684.74 million have already been spent.
However, an additional amount of Rs 271.41 million have been allocated under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2015-16 for completion of this project, according to a budgetary document released by the government.
According to CAA official sources, the dam is being constructed in coordination with Small Dams Organisation, Islamabad. Similarly, another amount of Rs 18.58 million has been allocated under the PSDP 2015-16 for establishment of Main Meteorological Office at the airport.
The estimated cost of this project is Rs 31 million, out of which Rs 12.38 have already been spent. The government has also earmarked Rs 400 million for construction of accommodation barracks for the ASF personnel. Under the orders of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a power plant would be installed to ensure regular electricity to the airport, which would cater the needs of 15 million passengers in a year.
The CAA, responsible for execution of the airport, has also decided for provisioning of security on complete perimeter fencing by installing perimeter intrusion detection system in line with the international standards at the airport. For this purpose, a consultant is being engaged to conduct complete survey of the area, measuring 18.4 kilometres, and prepare an initial report.
This airport would be the first green field airport of Pakistan with the facility to cater the largest commercial aircraft presently operating worldwide.
The airport would have 15 boarding bridges and would be able to handle 400,000 metric tonnes of cargo. The government has ordered the installation of latest baggage handling system at the airport.
The groundbreaking of the project was performed in April 2007 and it was supposed to be completed within 30 months. Initially the cost of the project was estimated to be Rs37 billion. Later, PC-I of the project was revised in March 2012 at a cost of Rs 66 billion.
The CAA had once again revised its expenditures, putting them at Rs 95 billion while the anticipated completion date of the project was October 2016.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk