ISLAMABAD – Adviser to Prime Minister on Aviation Sardar Mahtab Khan hassaid that the airport will not be named after any personality and itsofficial name will be “Islamabad International Airport (IIAP)”.
The adviser confirmed that the airport will not be named after anypersonality and its official name will be “Islamabad International Airport(IIAP)”. A media tour to the airport was arranged by CAA while authority’sDeputy Director General Aamir Mehboob briefed media about the project.
A visit to the site revealed that most of the construction work has beencompleted yet there are several shortcomings that need to be addressed. Thebiggest shortcoming is non-availability of public transport to the airportalthough the management claims an agreement has been signed with a privatecompany to start the bus service to connect the facility with Rawalpindiand Islamabad but so far the airport is only accessible through personalvehicles.
The airport has no housing facility for civil aviation staff andaccommodation for Airport Security Force (ASF) is only partially available.
The cost of the airport has now escalated to Rs105 billion from the initialestimate of Rs81.1 billion, a senior official of Pakistan Civil AviationAuthority (CAA) said. When the construction started in 2006 the costestimate was Rs37 billion.
A new Kasana Dam will be constructed on 700 acres nearby to fulfil thewater needs for the airport although the airport already has a smaller RamaDam spanning over 282 acres which can fulfil the requirements for about oneand a half years.
The decision to delay the launch was taken by Adviser to the Prime MinisterSardar Mahtab Khan on Wednesday after a visit to the new facility. Adviserexpressed his satisfaction over the overall preparedness foroperationalisation however he wanted the state of the art systems andequipment be tested and trialed more to bring it to the level ofinternational standards.
“For that matter he gave directions to concerned authorities andparticularly to CAA to do more tests and trials in order to improvereliability and efficiency of systems,” says a statement issued by CAA.