LAHORE: In light of present policy of Government of Pakistan to expand its Aviation industry and to exploit the potential of being new Aviation hub, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has assigned National Engineering Services Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd (Nespak), the premier consulting firm of Pakistan, mega development projects in the Aviation sector.
As per the agreement NESPAK will provide consultancy services for the upgradation and expansion of Begum Nusrat Bhutto (BNB) Sukkur Airport as an international airport for wide body aircrafts with all allied facilities. It will provide consultancy services for design and construction supervision for expansion and renovation of passenger terminal building and allied infrastructure facilities at Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore as well as Aviation Tower Islamabad.
A sormal consultancy contract signing ceremony was held at Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore on Wednesday. The ceremony was witnessed by Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Federal Minister of Aviation, Khaqan Murtaza, DG PCAA and Dr Tahir Masood, Managing Director NESPAK.
The signing of agreement was made by Engr. V. S. Sodha, Director P&D on behalf of PCAA and Mr. Muhammad Farooq, GM/Head NESPAK Karachi Division for Sukkur and Lahore Airport and with Mr. Danish Raza, GM/Head NESPAK Islamabad Division for Aviation Tower Islamabad.
After agreement signing ceremony, a brief presentation was given by MD NESPAK to honorable Aviation Minister about the status of the BNB Sukkur Airport project. While briefing the Aviation minister, salient features of expansion plan including extension of runway and taxiway, reconstruction of apron and terminal building along with other allied and support facilities were presented.
As per the presentation, the new terminal building and airside facilities shall cater for the requirements of Code E Aircrafts (Boeing 777) for next 20 years. In addition to connecting the population of the areas to international destinations, the airport will also cater to the requirement of exporting local handicraft of area, fresh vegetables and fruits to nearby Middle East countries.
Aviation minister appreciated the efforts of NESPAK and instructed PCAA and NESPAK to complete the planning, design and bidding phase within 6 months to complete the construction activities in the estimated period of next 24 months.
Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has also planned to construct a 38-storey high-rise office cum commercial tower at Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area Islamabad.
The PCAA Tower, which is first ever tallest building in Islamabad, is going to be an iconic building with around 38-storey with state-of-the art facilities. The tower will house various directorates and branches of PCAA as well as airline corporate offices, airline booking centres, business centres, seminar and conference halls, media centres, financial institutes and banks, recreational facilities including an aviation science museum, art gallery, health and fitness centre, indoor sports facilities, baby day care centre, food courts, hotel/lodging facilities.
The building while housing offices of various cadres of PCAA will be having covered area of around 850,000 sq ft with anticipated project cost of around Rs 14 billion.
The PCAA Tower, being a green building project, is aimed to achieve sustainability, water conservation, energy efficiency, environment friendly design with less carbon footprint.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022