Gwadar airport faces delay due to slow land acquisition

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Khalid Mustafa
ISLAMABAD: The New International Airport at Gwadar faces inordinate delay because of a massive slowdown in the process of acquiring land for the project, a senior government official told The News.

“The new airport that is to cost $200 to $250 million will be given international status and operate under the open sky policy. In the meantime, there are plans to improve facilities at the existing airport.” The official said unfortunately, this vital project has hit snags at the preliminary stage of land acquisition.

“Earlier, the cost of acquiring 4,300 acres of land for the project was approved at Rs1.05 billion, which has now swelled to Rs1.5 billion, a 50 per cent increase.”

Now the Planning Commission has revised upward the price of land after the government of Balochistan informed the centre that its cost has increased. The land acquisition process should have been completed much earlier as this important project was supposed to come on stream in 2009. Now execution of the project will be delayed by about six months. Owing to delay, the overrun cost of the project would also increase.

Now the government has released Rs1.5 billion to complete the acquisition of land for New International Airport at Gwadar. The Civil Aviation Authority, which is the executing agency, has been asked to look for a private party to initiate the construction process of the New International Port once the land acquisition process is over.

To a question the official said that the New International Airport will be constructed at Gurandari, 26 kilometers east of Gawadar city. This airport will provide speedy traveling to the investors coming in and going out of the port, which will be the hub of business activities in the region.

The official went on to say that Gwadar is located on the southwestern coast of Pakistan, close to the important Straits of Hormuz, through which more than 13 million bbd of oil passes. It is strategically located between three increasingly important regions of the world, the oil-rich Middle East, heavily populated South Asia and the economically emerging and resource-rich Central Asia.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=138861