ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal has said that the new Islamabad airport will be completed by November this year as 85 per cent construction work has been done.
He said this while talking to the media after visiting the under-construction terminal building of the airport. He alleged that the project had become “a white elephant” due to mismanagement and corruption during the previous governments. Its initial cost was Rs31 billion which surged to Rs81 billion. “When the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz came to power in 2013, about 40 per cent work of the project had completed, but on the special directives of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the pace of work was expedited and within two years it has now entered into the final phase,” the minister added.
He pointed out that even after completion of 40 per cent work no planning was made for provision of basic facilities like water supply, approach roads and electricity. “The present government has approved construction of two dams for water supply to the new airport while a grid station has been set up for electric supply,” he added.
