LAHORE: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has assigned the National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak) its mega development projects.

A consultancy contract signing ceremony was held at the Allama Iqbal International Airport here on Wednesday. Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq, CAA Director General Khaqan Murtaza and Nespak Managing Director Dr Tahir Masood were also present in the event.

According to a CAA spokesperson, in the light of policy of the government to expand the aviation Industry and to exploit the potential of being a new aviation hub the Nespak has been engaged for its consultancy.

The projects whose consultancy has been given to Nespak include upgrade and expansion of Begum Nusrat Bhutto (BNB) Sukkur Airport as an international airport for wide body aircraft with all allied facilities, design and construction supervision for expansion and renovation of passenger terminal building and allied infrastructure facilities at the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore and construction of aviation tower in Islamabad.

After the agreement, a brief presentation was given by the Nespak MD to the aviation minister about the status of the BNB Sukkur airport project. The minister was informed about the expansion plan, including extension of runway and taxiway, reconstruction of apron and terminal building along with other allied and support facilities.

The spokesperson said the new terminal building and airside facilities would cater to the requirements of Code E Aircraft (Boeing 777) for the 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 the Middle East,” he said.

He said the CAA had also planned to construct a 38-storey high-rise office cum commercial tower at the Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area, Islamabad. “The CAA Tower, which will be tallest building in Islamabad, is going to be an iconic building with around 38-storeys with state-of-the art facilities. The tower will house various directorates and branches of CAA 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 housing offices of various cadres of CAA will have a covered area of around 850,000 sq.ft with anticipated project cost of around Rs14bn. The CAA Tower, being a green building project, is aimed at achieving sustainability, water conservation, energy efficiency, environment friendly design with less carbon footprint.”

Saad Rafique appreciated the efforts of the Nespak and instructed it and the CAA to complete the planning, design and bidding phase within six months to complete the construction activities in the estimated period of next 24 months.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2022