Peshawar airport was originally a small airfield set up in 1927 in the suburbs. It attained the status of an international airport in 1965. It was still located outside the city till University Town was established in 1970, while Hayatabad Township was started in the 1980s.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, there was a rush of Afghan refugees into Peshawar from1980 and onwards. There was an exponential increase in Peshawar’s population with most of the new arrivals living in the west side of the city.

Today, the approximate population of Peshawar is 3.5 million and the airport is no more in the suburbs -- being totally surrounded by towns and villages.

I would request the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to consider moving Peshawar airport and the air-force base from its current location. If the present airport and air force base is developed for housing and the main runway converted into a four-lane highway connecting the ring road in the south and the future Northern Bypass road in the north of the city, revenue will be generated which can be used to build a new world-class international airport for Peshawar and an air-force base.

Peshawar is barely 30 kms from the Afghan border. Once Afghanistan becomes stable, Peshawar will become a very important business hub. This is all the more reason to start planning for a new airport today.

Abdel Nasser Marwat
Peshawar

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2015

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