QUETTA - The test flight from new Gwadar International Airport would be started from December this year as the construction work on the site has been expedited.
In a statement, an official of the Gwadar Development Authority said that the new $246 million greenfield Gwadar International Airport was being built at an area of 4,300 acres. It would be made operational before the deadline of September 2023.
He added that the government had expanded the 50-bed Pak-China Friendship Hospital Gwadar to 150 beds state-of-the-art medical centre to ensure best health care facilities for the people of Gwadar. The authority would ensure modern free medical facility to the inhabitants of Gwadar from January next year. He said that the authority had expedited implementation of old town rehabilitation plan of Gwadar to provide best infrastructure and provide every facility to the masses of port city. With the support of federal government, the project worth Rs3.3 billion for old town rehabilitation of Gwadar was in full swing to set city on modern lines to end the sense of deprivation among the locals, he added.
The official said that the federal government would bear 67 percent of the total cost while Balochistan government would bear the remaining cost for the development of rehabilitation project under the Gwadar development plan. Under the plan, water drainage, supply and distribution of utility projects would be completed soon, besides ensuring the supply of clean drinking water to the port dwellers.
The official said that the water supply to Gwadar would be resolved in the next three months as work on desalination plant is also in progress. He directed the authorities concerned to strictly adhere to the Gwadar Master Plan while carrying out development and other public welfare projects in the city.
The departments concerned were making all out efforts to expedite the infrastructure and development projects for its timely completion in Gwadar. He said that there were vast investment opportunities in every sector and comprehensive strategy would be adopted to attract investors in this regard.