June 15, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1423

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BAHAWALPUR, June 14: The Federal government has agreed in principle to upgrade the Bahawalpur airport to make possible the landing of Boeing aircraft.

Dawn has learnt that the row over the issue of acquiring the land for the expansion of existing runway has been resolved. The Punjab government will provide the land at an estimated amount of Rs300 million to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

DCO Imran Ahmed told Dawn on Friday that the state land adjacent to the existing runway had been made available for this purpose. After a detailed survey, he said, the case would be forwarded to the Punjab Revenue Board for determining its final price.

It may be mentioned that Dubai rulers will spend Rs3,000 million on the construction of new Bahawalpur airport. In fact, they had offered financial assistance a few years ago, but the government also demanded the price of land which caused delay in the project.

With the expansion of runway, a new terminal building and other offices will be added to the airport building.

The local chamber of commerce and industry has been demanding the upgradation of the airport for the last several years.

COTTON SOWING: Around 75 per cent cotton sowing has been completed in the Bahawalpur district.

It is learnt that out of total sowing target of 0.65 million acres, so far the sowing has been completed in 0.48 million acres.