Pakistan does not have a commercial plan for making the recently inaugurated New Gwadar International Airport operational, as the airport regulator revealed that the facility is not commercially viable until the Gwadar Port and Free Zone are fully developed.
Presiding over a review meeting, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal was flabbergasted over a two-page presentation that showed mostly paperwork about various facilities at the airport inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang last month.
He “strongly criticised the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and Pakistan Airport Authority for delays in developing a comprehensive plan to commercialise the airport”, an official statement said.
The Civil Aviation and Airport Authority officials said that approvals had been accorded for allotment of space to government departments, PIA, ground handling agents, and other stakeholders for cargo sheds, courier services and traffic guidance systems in the administration block while the tender was being issued for cold storage.
He said China had built the airport according to international standards, but there has been total disappointment and zero progress on Pakistan’s side.
Mr Iqbal observed that the relevant aviation and airport authorities should have operationalised the facility within six months of its completion and should have approached the international airlines and governments to explain the strategic and economic benefits of using Gwadar Airport for shorter distances compared to other long-haul flights or flights using multiple stopovers to reach long distances like African destination.