KARACHI: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit the strategically important port city of Gwadar on Friday to lay the foundation stone for the $230 million New Gwadar International Airport (NGIA), the national civil aviation authority said.
Gwadar, which lies in the southwestern Baluchistan province, is the crown jewel of China’s $60 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor of energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan.
The plan for Gwadar includes turning it into a trans-shipment hub and megaport to be built alongside special economic zones from which export-focused industries will ship goods around the world. Roads, rail link and energy pipelines will connect the deepwater Gwadar port to China’s western regions.
“The prime minister is scheduled to lay the foundation of NGIA on Friday afternoon," Mirza Mujtaba Baig, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, told Arab News.
Khan is also expected to visit Gwadar's special economic zones, the harbour, and an ongoing exhibition, the Gwadar Expo, during the visit. He will also announce several development packages for the province of Balochistan.
Khan is also expected to announce several development packages for the province of Balochistan, especially Gwadar. (AFP/File)
Once completed in three years, the Gwadar airport, for which an agreement was signed in May 2017, will be the second largest airport in Pakistan.
“On the occasion of the groundbreaking (ceremony) of the new Gwadar International Airport and second Gwadar Expo, we will show you a different Gwadar Port," Lijian Zhao, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Chinese Embassy, said in a Twitter post.
