The Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation, Khawaja Saad Rafique, has announced that the New Gwadar International Airport will be fully operational by September 2023.
New Gwadar International Airport
The New Gwadar International Airport (NGIA) is being built and is set to be the biggest airport in the country upon its completion in March 2023. Occupying 4,300 acres (17 km2) of land, it is located in Gurandani, 26 km north-east of the existing airport in Gwadar City on the south-western Arabian Sea coast of the Balochistan region. NGIA is expected to cost $246 million and is being funded entirely by China as a grant.
Ex PM Imran Khan laid down the foundation stone for NGIA on 29 March 2019. This new airport will feature a modern terminal building as well as a cargo terminal, with refrigeration capabilities for perishable items, and an initial handling capacity of 30,000 tonnes yearly. NGIA will have the ability to house wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A380 & Boeing 747-8, as well as narrow-body aircraft like the ATR-72 & Boeing 737-900ER.
The New Gwadar International Airport will be a state-of-the-art facility with a single runway 3,658 meters in length and 75 meters in width. It will also have a taxiway of 23 meters alongside paved shoulders 10.5 meters on both sides. The airport will also have the capacity to accommodate a second runway in the north direction of the first runway. The airport will also have an Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower, crash, fire and rescue facilities, as well as a fuel farm. The China Communications Construction Company (CCC) has been awarded the contract to build the new airport, which is expected to be completed in March 2023.
The New Gwadar International Airport will be constructed at a cost of Rs55.4 billion.
