When completed in late 2022, the New Gwadar International Airport (NGIA) will be the country’s largest airport and is projected to be the largest in South Asia.
It is situated in Gurandani, on the south-western Arabian Sea coast of Balochistan, on 4,300 acres (17 km2) of land, 26 kilometres north-east of the current airport in Gwadar City. The cost of NGIA is estimated to be $246 million. China has fully funded it as a grant.
On March 29, 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone for the NGIA. With an initial handling capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year, this greenfield airport will include a new terminal building alongside a cargo terminal with refrigeration facilities for perishable goods.
NGIA will be able to handle wide-body planes like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-400, as well as narrow-body planes like the ATR-72 and Boeing 737-900.
The China Communications Construction Company (CCC) was awarded the design-build contract for the new airport by the CAA Pakistan, and it is scheduled to be completed in late 2022.
