UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY TAXILA

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

BSc. CIVIL ENGINEERING

Session 2011-15

Study Tour Report: New Islamabad International Airport

April 10, 2015

Prepared By: Submitted To: Abdul Moiz (11-CE-01) Dr. Naeem Ejaz M.Abdullah Alvi (11-CE-157) Assistant Professor SECTION A 8th SEMESTER

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 3

AIM OF THE STUDY TOUR ......................................................................................................................... 3

SCHEDULE OF THE TOUR ........................................................................................................................... 3

TECHNICAL BRIEFING ................................................................................................................................ 4

OUTCOMES AND ADVANTAGES OF THE TOUR ....................................................................................... 10

STUDY TOUR: NEW ISLAMABAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

INTRODUCTION A study tour for the students of 2011 sessions of Civil Engineering Department, University of Engineering

& Technology Taxila, was arranged by their respective tutor, Dr. Naeem Ejaz, to the “New Islamabad

International Airport” on dated 10th April, 2015. New Benazir Bhutto International Airport or Gandhara

International Airport is an under construction international airport near the twin cities of

Rawalpindi/Islamabad in Rawalpindi district, Pakistan. It’s built to replace the existing Benazir Bhutto

International Airport located in Chaklala, Rawalpindi.

AIM OF THE STUDY TOUR The primary aim of the study tour was to provide exposure to the upcoming graduates of the Civil

Engineering Department, UET Taxila to the latest construction practices in use at state-of-the-art project.

The New Islamabad International Airport provided the best opportunity to achieve this objective. In

addition, it is also one of the largest projects in the country’s history and as well as in Asia so it is not

something that one gets to experience every day. Furthermore, the site being sensitive does not allow

unplanned visits, so this study tour was just the platform needed by the students who would have otherwise

not been able to visit the site individually.

SCHEDULE OF THE TOUR Two university buses were allocated for transportation to, within and from the site. The tour comprised of

three stops, Runways, Passenger Terminal Building (PTB) and Civil Aviation Site Office (for

Refreshments). The details of timings and schedule were as follows,

Departure from the University 9:00 AM

Arrival at the Site 10:00 AM

Visit and briefing about the Runways 10:15 AM

Visit and briefing about the PTB 10:45AM

Refreshments 11:30 AM

Departure from site 12:00 AM

Arrival at the University 1:00 AM

FIGURE 1 - BUSES ALLOCATED FOR STUDY TOUR

TECHNICAL BRIEFING Mr. Farjad, The Engineer’s Representative of Civil Aviation Authority, led us to the aforementioned stops

and briefed us about the project. It is a joint project of Capital Development Authority (CDA), National

Highway Authority (NHA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and designed by French company

Aéroports de Paris Ingenierie (ADPi) and CPG Corporation of Singapore. It is being built on more than

3200 acres of land and consists of a passenger terminal building, runways, taxiways, apron and parking

bays for wide body aircraft. There will also be a cargo terminal, air traffic control complex, fuel farm, as

well as a fire, crash and rescue facility. It would be equipped to handle all types of aircraft including the

new generation aircraft such as the Airbus A380. The construction site of the airport is near the Rawalpindi-

Fateh Jang Road near Tarnol, some 20 km from Zero Point, Islamabad and 23 km from Saddar, Rawalpindi.

The airport is being developed to be at par with international standards to serve as major hub for all aviation

activities in Pakistan. The airport will have a 180,000m² modular terminal building which will initially be

able to handle 9 million passengers and 80,000 metric tonnes cargo per annum. Being a new airport, a

significant portion of the land has been earmarked for commercial purposes such as Duty-free Shops, Hotel

and Convention Centre, Air Malls, Business Centre, Food Courts, Leisure and Recreational facilities. The

CAA announced its intention to name the airport Gandhara International Airport after the ancient Buddhist

kingdom of Gandhara, nevertheless, the Government changed the name and now it is known as New

Benazir Bhutto International Airport. The project was worked out through three levels: concept designing,

primary and final designing.

FIGURE 2 - LOCATION OF THE TOUR SITE

At our first stop, the runway, we observed the type of pavement used for the runway, various types of

runway lights and were briefed about the other technical specifications related to the runway.

FIGURE 3 - PRIMARY RUNWAY

Following specifications about the runways and airport were briefed to us on our first stop.

Description Details

No. of Runways 02

Length of Runways 3.6 Km

Width of Primary Runway 60 m

Width of Secondary Runways 45 m

Shoulders Width 7.5 m

Blast Pad Width 60 m

Rapid Taxiways 03

Linked Taxiways 03

Width of Fear Weather Strip 300 ft

No. of Aprons 02

Boarding Bridges 09 (Extendable)

Maximum Parking Capacity on Existing BBIA 11 Airplanes

Maximum Parking Capacity on New BBIA 29 Airplanes

FIGURE 4 - PASSENGER TERMINAL BUILDING

FIGURE 5 - CARGO TERMINAL

The Consultant of this project is LOUIS BURGER GROUP. The contractors of this Mega Project are LTH

(LEAGON, TECHNICAL and HABIB). FWO and a Chinese firm (China state) are also carrying out works

on this mega project.

FIGURE 6 - PASSENGER TERMINAL BRIDGE

FIGURE 7 - ENTRANCE TO THE PASSENGER TERMINAL BUILDING

FIGURE 8 - A VIEW OF THE WORKS INSIDE THE PASSENGER TERMINAL BUILDING

FIGURE 9 - FLOOR FINISHES UNDER PROGRESS

FIGURE 10 - CURTAIN WALLS UNDER PROGRESS

FIGURE 11 - HVAC SYSTEM UNDER PROGRESS

FIGURE 12 - SKYLIGHTS TO ENSURE ENERGY EFFICIENCY

OUTCOMES AND ADVANTAGES OF THE TOUR The study tour benefited the students in the following ways;

1. The tour provided the students an insight on how the construction activities are carried out on such

huge projects.

2. The tour would particularly benefit those having their majors in the field of Construction

Management, Structural Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Infrastructure Engineering.

3. The tour provided the students with an opportunity to visit a site the like of which they may never

get to see in a long time.

4. The study tour was very timely, considering that most students would probably be graduates by the

next two months, so they should have some first-hand experience on how such a huge site is

operated.

5. At first the expenditures for the construction was estimated to be 37 Billion Rs. But now due to

time factors and other critical issues the cost has been escalated to 72 billion Rs.

6. The increasing project cost is the problem, however according to CAA, the airport is expected to

generate the revenue at such a high pace that it would meet the project cost within a year or two.