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Green-field airport for capital by 2011, Mukhtar tells NA

* Defence minister says CAA running the project on self-finance basis
* 3,200 acres acquired near Fatehjang

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: The under construction Islamabad International Airport will be operational by the end of 2011, said Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, minister for defense, in a written reply to a question in the National Assembly on Friday.

Mukhtar told the House that Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had acquired 3,200 acres of land for the airport near Fatehjang, about 20 km from Zero Point, Islamabad, and 23 km from Saddar, Rawalpindi.

He said the CAA was completing this project on self-finance basis though had been provided over Rs 5 billion in the current financial year under this head.

Official sources told Daily Times that an additional 400 acres of land had also been acquired to build two runways for the first green-field airport ever constructed in Pakistan. “There will be two 4,000 feet-long runways for the largest and heaviest of aircrafts, though initially only one will be used for operations and the other will be retained as an emergency runway,” they said.

The project was announced in January 2005 after a 10-year delay due to political changes in the country and construction began in April 2007, when funding became available. The new airport will eventually replace the overloaded Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Airport in Chaklala, providing a better access to Northern Areas, NWFP, FATA and AJK.

The airport will be constructed in two phases. The first involves construction of taxiways, aprons and other airside infrastructure and the second entails parking lot for 2,000 vehicles, a covered parking plaza for 200 cars, a control tower, maintenance hangar, a 15-gate terminal with 10 remote gates, 42 immigration counters, nine baggage claim carousels, 12 X-ray machines, and administration facilities.

There will also be a hotel, convention centre, duty-free shops, airside mall, business centre, food court, leisure facilities and banks at the new airport having 180,000m² modular terminal building which will initially be able to handle nine million passengers a year.

There will also be a cargo complex capable of handling 100,000t a year, four rapid-exit taxiways, a special parking area for hijacked aircrafts, apron parking sufficient for the contact stands, underground cable network, parking for ground handling vehicles, secure cargo areas and major airport road infrastructure.

Design of the new terminal building will be sustainable and environmentally sound with use of natural daylight for main lighting and sun shading to cut cooling costs as well as an intelligent main roof (water conservation) and an elongated driveway length front portal. The terminal will also make full use of traditional Islamic geometric patterns in its design.

The modular terminal building will have a linear pier on each side and a centre pier extending out to serve the boarding gates.

Then President Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf had performed ground breaking ceremony of the $400 million modern airport project in April 2007, which he said would prove as a step forward to turn Pakistan into a major regional hub for trade, tourism and communication.

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