New Islamabad airport embroiled in problems

[The Sandman]

6th May 2016,

ISLAMABAD: The construction of new Islamabad Airport is increasingly becoming embroiled in a host of problems, confusing members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) because every time conflicting details are shared.

On Thursday, members of the PAC, including its chairperson Syed Khursheed Shah, expressed serious concern over poor planning in connection with water supply and availability of electricity in addition to “blunders” in construction of two runways of the airport.

No end in sight for new Islamabad airport

DG Aviation of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Asim Suleiman informed the committee that the PC-I of Rs37 billion, which was the original cost of the project, had been approved in 2008 but it did not include the cost of installing radar, or building air traffic control (ATC) tower, baggage handling area, air field lighting and security system. Thus, the revised PC-1 pushed the cost to Rs81.17 billion, prompting Shah to ask what if it increased again due to further delays.

MNA Sheikh Rashid Ahmed asked the DG if they could share details of a proper road to the airport, including the water, gas and electricity facilities. He said he had lands in the area and nothing had been properly set and “all presentations and details are nothing but just eyewash.”

The “blunder” which came up during the discussion was that two runways had been built with a separating distance of just 201 meters. “Two flights cannot land concurrently which was an error by an American designer,” the DG confessed.

New Islamabad Airport: Minister directs CAA to complete work swiftly

Mahmood quipped that it was a criminal error. Shah asked if the CAA followed “some rules and regulations “.

“Nobody checked it? Internationally, rules of aviation are strictly followed,” he asked. The DG said the airport could handle nine million passengers per year while Karachi could handle six million passengers annually.

The DG stated that two rain harvesting dams were also being built. He said that in the first phase, 282 acres of land was acquired on March 11 this year, for the construction of Ramma dam with a capacity of 3.3 million gallons of water per day. He added that for Kassana dam, land acquisition was underway.

Shahida Akhtar Ali,also a PAC member, asked the DG about the mushrooming growth of housing societies posing threat to human lives and raising security issues in the area. The DG replied that there was no such issue. The DG assured the committee members that the airport’s construction work would be completed by the end of this year.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1098129...-new-islamabad-airport-embroiled-in-problems/

 

[nomi007]

where is army chief
why he is not taking notice
of this mega scandal

 

[Arsalan]

And a an year or so ago it was claimed that the problem of distance between runways have been addressed. Which was never the case. The excuse then given was that we do not plan to even use the second runway so leave it be.
Planning and management screw up!!

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

Before I begin to rip apart the utter incompetency of this CAA.

Let me point out, these are apparently the same people that failed to include the cost of a Air Traffic Control Town, Radar, runway Lighting, Baggage handling or Security systems.

Just if someone can point out to me, how do you make an airport with out a ATC, Radar, runway Lighting, baggage handling or security systems?

Think about that, because I don't have the time too.

Here's a diagram of Dallas International:

The runways are about 600 feet apart, or 182 meters.

Dubai International has a staggered runway, one starts and ends earlier, as you an see:

And yes, between the larger runways is a smaller runway.

Just like Karachi's staggered runways, which also dont look like they're 1km apart:

Here is Dulles International:

You an see 2 separate parallel runways one coming towards the lower left, the other cutting across the upper right.

Singapore International:

This is really beautiful, almost all of the airport was built in reclaimed land. Also runways don't seem 1km apart.

No airport has simultaneous landings or liftoffs from parallel runways. They are all staggered in timing ranging from 30 seconds to 1 minute.

I believe the Narita International Airport, Japan, is one of the few airports for simultaneous liftoffs and landings, but their runways are 3.5 km apart and staggered.

Oh and this is interesting news:

Homeopathic doctor works as consultant at new Islamabad airport
MALIK ASAD — UPDATED ABOUT 7 HOURS AGO


ISLAMABAD: If an audit report of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is to be believed, none of the 12 engineering consultants hired for the under-construction New Islamabad International Airport hold engineering degrees.

Instead, there is a homeopathic doctor, simple graduates or persons with certificates in electrical or civil engineering hired as project management consultants (PMCs). Even the project manager holds a master’s degree in business administration.

According to the audit report prepared by the CAA directorate general audit (works), which was presented before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on May 5, inefficient PMCs were responsible for the Rs19.39 billion cost overrun of the project.

According to the auditors, payments amounting to Rs56.25 billion were made against the estimated cost of Rs36.8 billion.

CAA audit report says none of 12 engineering consultants hold engineering degree

The auditors noted that “different packages were awarded without due consideration… lack of coordination in execution of package and unsatisfactory performance of PMCs” led to the inefficient and poor execution of the project.

“The consultant prepared cost estimates on lump-sum basis instead of item wise.”

During a meeting of the departmental accounts committee (DAC) held on Feb 29, 2016, it was observed that the “project management consultants failed to perform its contractual role with regard to coordination and execution of work on site.”

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also found that the consultants were not qualified enough to perform such a crucial job.

As per an inquire report of the FIA, the heads of the project management consultants, M/s LBG, were not engineers.

The FIA probed the qualifications of the consultants and shared the results with the audit authorities which the latter incorporated in the audit report.

As per the FIA report, the project manager, Bruce A. Thompson, holds a master’s degree in business administration, Basrullah Jan is a material engineer with a simple BA degree and a homeopathic doctor, planning engineer Atif Saeed holds a bachelor of technology degree from Preston University which is not recognised by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).

Deputy project managers Mucheal Henry Pottinger and Houn Dong Bark are also graduates, planning manager Qiangsong Guan holds a BSc degree.

Holding a BSc civil engineering degree, planning engineer Robert Fluhr as per the report is 76-year-old and left the consultancy firm in July 2012.

He was brought back in 2014 but again left the firm. Engineering representative James McClung’s degree is not traceable, the report maintained.

Quoting the FIA’s finding, the audit report said some of the consultants did not possess relevant qualifications which contributed to the poor performance.

The audit recommended to the PAC to “fix responsibility against the persons responsible for the improper planning and inefficient execution of work.”

Since the PAC had already asked the CAA for a detailed presentation on May 5, it did not take up the audit report on Thursday and deferred it till the next meeting when it would examine the audit paras of the CAA.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1256854/homeopathic-doctor-works-as-consultant-at-new-islamabad-airport