SIALKOT, Dec 11: President Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday inaugurated the Rs2.6 billion Sialkot International Airport, the country’s first mega project built by the private sector.

The airport, spread over an area of 1050 acres with a runway of 3.6 kilometres and an overrun of 300 metres on both sides, fully meets the requirements of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Speaking on the occasion, the president said that there was need to maintain the economic upsurge of the past eight years to ensure that its gains reached the lowest tiers of society.

He said the government was making all-out efforts to bring about an industrial revolution in the country by encouraging and promoting the small and medium enterprise sector.

He assured the business community of continuity of the government’s economic and trade policies for strengthening the national economy and promoting sustainable trade activities.

The president praised the Sialkot business community’s efforts to make the project a reality, and said that exporters of Sialkot had set a unique precedent for others to follow by successfully building a mega project on a self-help basis.

The president said the completion of the project would open up new vistas of economic development and bring about a boom in the industrial sector.

He said the airport would help double annual exports from Sialkot to $2 billion and cater to the needs of the country’s first ‘Golden Export Triangle’ comprising Sialkot, Gujrat and Gujranwala districts.

He urged the business community to diversify their traditional and non-traditional exports besides exploring the markets.

The president expressed concern over escalating prices of wheat and said that owing to lower prices in neighbouring countries, the grain was being smuggled.

The president said there was a need to increase the support price of wheat to encourage farmers to sell it locally and to discourage its smuggling.

He said the government would subsidise its sale through the Utility Stores Corporation to facilitate the people to get it cheaply.—Agencies