ISLAMABAD: The president of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Muzzamil Hussain Sabri visited newly constructed Islamabad International Airport to examine the status of its construction.
The delegation comprised of ICCI former president Mr Zafar Bakhtawari, Senior Vice President Muhammad Shakeel Munir and Vice President Muhammad Ashfaq Chatha .
Project director Brig (r) Pervez Hayat Khan gave briefing about the project. He said “90-95 percent work of the airport has almost been completed with its tentative date of operation as October 2016. The runways, roads, terminals are in final stage of completion”. Airport has been developed as the state-of-the-art facility with 3 times more passengers handling capacity, 4 storey terminals and 15 boarding bridges.
He said that ninety-nine percent work for laying of transmission lines has been done and a 135 MW grid station has been built to provide electricity to the airport. However, he said the cost of electricity would be very high. He said the airport was located at an area of 3300 acres with its length of 18.5 Kms.
He further stated that feasibilities of 3 big dams were prepared to supply water to the facility.
He said the initial development cost of the project was estimated at Rs.38 billion, however, due to delays, its cost has increased to over Rs.85 billion.
He said that the businessmen were playing an important role in the economic development of the country and hoped that the completion of this facility would give boost to business activities as it will promote trade and exports from this region.