New Gwadar International Airport to be completed in late 2022 will be Pakistan’s largest airport and expected to be the largest one in South Asia. It is being constructed at Gurandani, on the south-western Arabian Sea coast of Balochistan, occupying 4,300 acres (17 km2) of land, 26 kilometers north-east of the current airport in Gwadar City. The estimated cost is worth $246 million to completely build the NGIA, which is fully funded by china as a grant.
Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone for the NGIA on March 29, 2019. A new terminal building will also be constructed alongside a cargo terminal with refrigeration facilities for perishable goods with the capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year.
NGIA will be able to handle both wide and narrow body planes including wide-body planes like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-400, as well as narrow-body planes like the ATR-72 and Boeing 737-900.
The China Communications Construction Company (CCC) was awarded the design-build contract for the new airport by the CAA Pakistan, and it is scheduled to be completed in late 2022.
The new Gwadar airport is considered important for the development of Gwadar Port and its free zone.
