Work on the expansion of Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, which was to be completed at the cost of Rs26 billion, has once again been stopped on the order of the federal government, which will lead to a further increase in its construction cost, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.
Sources told 24News that a Pakistani and a Chinese company working on the project had been told by the government to stop their work.
They said that the decision had been taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on July 26, 2024.
Hitherto, in pursuance of the government’s decisions to expand the airport back in 2016 and then in 2018, international firms had joined hands with those in Pakistan for the completion of the project.
However, it was during the PTI government that work on the project was first stopped.
In 2024, a letter of intent (LOI) was issued to a Chinese company’s partnership with a Pakistani company following which work on the project started.
Reporter: Durre Nayab