Engineering Post Report
Aviation Division of the Federal government is responsible for the construction of the prestigious New Gwadar International Airport but its slow pace raises many questions .
As per Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2023-24 document, the project was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in November 2021 at an estimated cost of Rs 51298.178 million including foreign aid of Rs 34470.083 million. Against this, only Rs 3928.28 million were reported to have been incurred till end June 30,2023.
Against a huge throw-forward of Rs 47369.861 million, a very meagre allocation of 5000.000 million without any foreign aid has been made for its continued implementation, obviously at a very slow pace, under the PSDP during the current financial year.
The PSDP document is silent about the source of the foreign aid which itself raises a big question.
According to the information available on the internet, the New Gwadar International Project was launched in 2019 and is poised to be a gamechanger. This remarkable $ 230 million project is wholly financed by the Chinese Government and is located at Gurandani, approximately 26 kilometers east of Gwadar city.
It is being constructed by a consortium of Beijing Urban Construction Group and China Railway Beijing Engineering Group.
