BEIJING: China has announced to construct an airport on Pamir plateau of Xinjiang – 3,200 ft above sea level – in the city of Tashkurgan, near border with Azad Kashmir.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of China, the airport will provide access to the remote area. Tashkurgan is a small trading city located along the Karakoram Highway. Experts from the CAA visited three shortlisted locations in Tashkurgan last week to choose a site for the airport.
China aims to swiftly transfer resources to the remote but strategic region by using the airport. The city has become more significant since the China’s $46 billion economic corridor, linking Kashgar in Xinjiang, through Tashkurgan and across into Azad Kashmir all the way to the Gwadar port.
The economic corridor aims to connect Gwadar port with North-West China and plan to initiate road and rail links as well as pipelines, which will be a source of oil import for China. The plan, which involves laying down infrastructure in Azad Kashmir, such as railways, highways and energy projects, is said to have caused alarm in New Delhi.
