Govt seeks report on hike in allocation for new Islamabad airport

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday sought details of increase in allocation for construction of the new Islamabad International Airport, ARY News reported.

The details were sought from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) by the ministers, Fawad Chaudhry, Shehryar Afridi, Muhammad Mian Soomro and Amir Mehmood Kiani, who made an inspection visit to the airport.

The ministers also visited different areas at the airport and gave necessary orders for facilitation of passengers.

State Minister for Interior, Shehryar Afridi, said state-of-the-art scanners must be installed at the airport for strong security.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry directed the officials concerned to ensure cleanliness of toilets at the airport.

The new Islamabad airport was inaugurated on May 1 last year, after months of delay. The new airport is located 30km away from central Islamabad, and its construction work had started in April 2007.

The airport has a modular design which enables it to handle nine million passengers and 50,000 metric tons of cargo initially.

The “Y” shaped new airport spreads over 19 square kilometers with 15 jetties (passenger boarding bridges), including facilities to accommodate two double-deck A380, the world’s largest airplane, 15 remote bays and seven remote bays for small aircraft such as ATRs. It will be the biggest international airport in the country in terms of landing and passenger handling facilities. For the 15 bays, the same number of lounges have been built to avoid mixing of passengers. The new airport has two runways each 3.5 km long.

It has a passenger friendly terminal, two runways, three taxiways and a cargo apron which can accommodate large and small aircrafts.