Defence minister Rao Sikander Iqbal on a question raised by Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour informed the Senate that Rs 967.3 million had been spent on upgradation of airports during last two years and said there is no proposal regarding construction of a new airport in Peshawar. He said Rs 1,716 million were collected as airport tax. The defence minister told the house that the federal government has transferred 1407 acres land from provincial government of Balochistan for construction of cantonment areas in coastal area of Gwadar.
To a question on the maintenance expenditures of airports, the minister said an amount of Rs 113,466 was being spent by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Gwadar airports.
Senator, Sanaullah Baloch questioned the working of the ministry of Railways and inquired the minister for railways that why benefit of decrease in prices is not being transferred to commuters when fares are directly linked with the international oil prices.
The minister for Railways, Shamim Haider, admitted that passenger fares were increased by 10 percent in all classes for distances beyond 100 kilometers.
While answering a question raised by Senator Ilyas Ahmad Bilour, interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao informed the house that 6404711 computerized identity cards have been issued so far in NWFP and 260951 applications are under process in various offices of Nadra in NWFP.