Plan and gear up

The completion dates of several projects in Pakistan have been delayed from time to time. One hopes that the completion date of the new Islamabad airport – August 14, 2017 – is adhered to by the concerned authorities. The completion of the 969-MW Neelum Jhelum Hydro-power project is still pending. This project is of national importance and will divert water from River Neelum to a power station on River Jhelum. The underground coal gasification project for the generation of electricity at Thar was approved but its completion date has yet to be announced. Out of the 10 100-MW solar sub-parks at the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park in Bahawalpur, only one has been completed. Will these parks be outsourced to foreign companies or completed by local engineers and technicians trained during the installation of the first solar sub-park?     The 10.5-km long Lowari Tunnel is expected to be completed by October 2017. Once this is done, the current 14-hour drive from Chitral to Peshawar will be reduced to 7 hours. The tunnel will also facilitate all-weather transportation between Chitral and the rest of the country.

A project has a finite length, a deadline and a fixed budget. If our project managers stick to the four key phases: initiation, planning, execution and closing, the projects will not be delayed.

Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan

Karachi