After ease in lockdown, construction of Gwadar airport picks up pace

The construction of much-awaited New Gwadar International Airport has entered its second phase, as the joint Pakistan and China project pushes towards completion.

The airport is located in Gurand, some 26 km northeast of the city of Gwadar in Balochistan. Its total cost is USD 230 million.

"In the second phase a permanent station is being built," Zhang Baozhong, chairman of the China Overseas Port Holding Company Chairman (COPHC), told Geo.tv.

"This will spur up development activities with full speed and momentum," he added.

Despite the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, construction of the airport did not halt, he added, and the second phase has begun as per the schedule.

The project is expected to be completed in three years' time. After which, Baozhong explained, it would be the second-largest airport in Pakistan connecting Gwadar with the rest of the world.

Lieutenant General (retired) Asim Saleem Bajwa, Chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, also tweeted about the historic developed on May 7.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan performed the ground-breaking ceremony of the Gwadar airport on March 29, 2019, while the construction began on October 31, 2019.

Being part of the Early Harvest High Priority Project of CPEC, the airport is free from all loan obligations and debt burden. It is being constructed on grant assistance and is being completely bankrolled by the Chinese government.

Nadir Baloch, a senior official of the Gwadar Development Authority (GDA), told Geo.tv that in order to ensure an uninterrupted supply of electricity for the construction work, the federal government had issued a license to install a 130 KW power plant near the site.

With the ease in lockdown restrictions, especially for the construction industry, following the COVID-19 outbreak, Baloch added, "Work on the airport is now in full swing."

( With inputs from ANI )