Daily Times

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday inaugurated the new multi-billion Islamabad International Airport that has the capacity to cater to nine million passengers annually.

The Prime Minister attributed the successful completion of the project to ‘a strengthened democracy, respect for the Constitution, and determination of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government to serve the masses’.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said what the PML-N had achieved in mere five years was unprecedented in the country’s political history. He said a six percent growth rate, and other positive economic indicators showed that the policies put in place by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were successful. He said 1,700-km long new motorways were built in the country in the last five years, and 10,400 MW electricity added to the national grid.

The Prime Minister commended the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on the completion of the new airport, and asked it to gear up efforts for provision of services of international standards to the passengers.

He said Pakistan had the most liberal aviation policy, adding that protectionism was not a solution to the sector’s problems. He said there was a need to further improve the policy to encourage new local and foreign carriers.

He said aviation today was a necessity and not a luxury and there was a need to ensure provision of best services that encouraged the sector.

He also asked the CAA to ensure that the issues that might crop up in the early phases of the new project be dealt with on priority. He said all new projects have issues that need to be addressed, to avoid inconvenience to the public.

Earlier, the Prime Minister formally inaugurated the facility and posed for a photograph with senior officials of the CAA.

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, CAD Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Advisor to PM on Aviation Sardar Mehtab, and Punjab Governor Rafiq Rajwana were also present.

Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, Advisor to PM on Aviation, termed the completion of the airport another milestone for the PML-N government. He said the 20-year-old project had undergone several changes owing to changes in the prevailing technology.

He said work was also underway to upgrade facilities at other major airports in the country including those at Lahore, Peshawar, and Faisalabad. He said the CAA also needed to upgrade its services to meet the challenges of the modern era.

Nasir Shafiq Dar, the director of the Planning Commission, in a brief on the project said the airport’s spacious design could let the government accommodate up to 12 million passengers annually at a later stage.

Constructed at a cost of more than Rs100 billion, the airport is connected to the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad via the Kashmir Highway and the motorway via the Thallian interchange. A four-lane highway has also been constructed by the National Highway Authority (NHA) to cater to cargo traffic. The airport would have 15 boarding gates and would be the only airport in the country from where Airbus A380 planes could operate.

Spanning over 4,238 acres of land, the airport consists of a four-level passenger terminal building, two runways, taxiways, apron and parking bays for wide-body aircraft.

The airport will also have a 50-bed trauma centre, a cinema, restaurants, several lounges and a duty free shop, besides a huge parking space for 2,200 vehicles.

Published in Daily Times, May 2^nd 2018.