ISLAMABAD: The New Islamabad Airport may face further delay of over one year to complete, as work on the construction of connecting roads and water supply sources is yet to begin.

The National Assembly standing committee on cabinet at a meeting with Rana Mohammad Hayat Khan in the chair on Thursday discussed the construction of the link roads and small dams for the supply of water to the new airport.

The committee expressed concerns over the delay in the completion of the airport being built near Fatehjung.

The groundbreaking of the airport was carried out in 2007. Initially, it was scheduled to be completed in five years at a cost of Rs37 billion but the cost has now swelled to Rs85 billion.

The meeting was attended by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab, MNAs Parveen Masoood Bhatti, Farhana Qamar, Syed Ali Raza Abidi and others.

Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) Shahid Ashraf Tarar briefed the committee about three options to connect the airport with the capital city: motorway, Shahra-i-Kashmir and Golra Chowk link roads. However, the chair decided to refer the matter to the prime minister.

“The prime minister will decide which option is viable,” said Mr Hayat, the chairman of the committee.

About the water supply to the airport, Director General Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) retired Air Marshal Mohammad Yousuf told the committee that three sites had been identified for the construction of small dams. The representative of the Punjab Small Dam Organisation told the committee that usually the construction of a dam took one year.

The committee was informed that at the initial stage two dams - Ramma and Kasana Dam - were to be built for the supply of water to the airport.

The meeting was informed that originally Shahpur Dam was designated as the source for the supply of 2.0 MGD water to the airport but later sub-soil investigations showed that there was no sustainable underground water source.

The CAA director general requested the chair to direct the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to supply water to the airport whenever it launched a new water scheme. But the CDA chairman, Maroof Afzal, said the civic agency itself was facing shortage of water for the residents of Islamabad.

“Currently, we are getting only 70 million water per day against the required 120 million. We are overcoming the shortage through tubewells and other sources,” he told the committee.

He said a summary for the construction of the Chirah dam, which would be fed by rainwater as well as the Tarbela dam, was lying with the Council of Common Interest (CII). The committee recommended to the government to release funds for the completion of airport.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2014