By Muhammad Luqman
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday performed the foundation stone laying ceremony of New Gwadar International Airport (NGIAP), the largest aerodrome of the South Asian country that would ultimately emerge as the aviation hub in the region.
“What a pleasure it is to be in Gwadar. Insha Allah, in coming months, years, Gwadar would be, I see, as engine of growth for Pakistan,” he said addressing the ground breaking ceremony of the airport in the South Western province of Balochistan.
The ceremony was attended by civil and military leadership of Pakistan including federal ministers, Balochistan chief minister, parliamentarians, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa besides Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan Yao Jing.
The airport was included among Early Harvest High Priority Project of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in January 2014. The Chinese government would assist Pakistan for construction of the airport under Chinese Grant Assistance.
The project is part of overall infrastructure development of Balochistan. It would be developed as a green-field facility with all modern facilities for safe operation, according to media reports.
The new Gwadar airport would be able to accommodate large aircraft such as A380. The project would comprise a modern terminal building with cargo terminal having initial handling capacity of 30,000 tons per year.
On this occasion, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for construction of Pakistan and China Vocational Training Institute and Pak-China Friendship Hospital.
The prime minister, who earlier unveiled the plaque of the project, thanked Chinese ambassador for the grant given by the Chinese government for the airport.
A desalination plant would also be set up in Gwader city and under Clean and Green Pakistan, one million saplings would be planted. Besides, a solid waste management system would also be established to protect the area from pollution.
He said following the models of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, the government had decided to recycle water in Gwadar to water the plants.
Khan told the gathering that Gwadar and Quetta would be linked through railways as it was the best travel mode but unfortunately Pakistan had been lagging behind in this sector.
