New Islamabad Airport is Pakistan’s first Greenfield airport which will be capable of serving 25 million passengers after completion & expansion. But the project is delayed & the cost is being increased because of corruption & irregularities.
According to Auditor General of Pakistan billions of Rupees were wasted because of delay, violation of guidelines, higher rates and irregular awarding of contracts. The ‘Aircraft stand equipment’ resulted in loss of 1.3 billion Rupees because of delay in tender which resulted in increased rates and fluctuation in foreign currency.
The contract for Airport Information System (AIMS) was awarded at 281.39% higher cost, similarly the project ‘special baggage handling system for passenger terminal building’ were delayed and then given to firms which were not even registered with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC). Then further work of Rs. 587 was given during negotiations.
Additional 1.5 billion were lost because technical evaluation was not carried in accordance with bidding criteria. Delay in completion of airport baggage handling also resulted in loss of Rs 900 million. The project should have been completed by January last year, the contractors failed to complete the work even after delay of 8 months.
Auditor General said that Planning Commission’s project management guidelines & rules of Public Procurement Regulations Authority were also violated resulting in losses. In Audit weaknesses of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Pakistan International Airline Corporation were also pointed out.
The last deadline for completion and inauguration of New Islamabad International was 14th August but it is once more delayed and it is being said that in December the airport will finally be inaugurated.