Kabul International Airport North opens

KABUL: A $77 million construction project came to a close at a grand opening ceremony for the Kabul International Airport (KAIA) North on May 1 when a symbolic key was given to International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Deputy Commander, Lieutenant General Jim Dutton, by the company that built the facility.

The force said on Monday the construction of the 30-facility Airport Protection Overlay District (APOD) compound was the single largest wartime construction project in NATOs history. The project allows handover of KAIA South for Afghan development and boasts the first major land transfer from NATO back to Afghanistan. 

In a statement, ISAF said the $77 million initiative was part of a $130 million, three-year construction project to develop Afghanistans only viable international airport, critical for the land-locked country. Seven million dollars of the $77 million was for the aircraft parking expansion, doubling NATOs strategic and tactical aircraft parking capacity at KAIA.

Lt. Gen. Dutton, in his remarks, thanked US Army Colonel Thomas Finn, project manager for KAIA North, for his efforts in the migration from KAIA South to KAIA North. He talked about the $17 million Role 2 hospital, NATOs first hospital construction outside Europe. He said more than 1,400 Afghans worked at the site with zero security incidents.

More than 229 NATO personnel will relocate from KAIA South to KAIA North into 11 buildings. KAIA North was built with higher force protection (FP) standards, allowing troops to be protected where they live and work. Thirteen million dollars went into force protection upgrades to defeat Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) threats at the gates.

Construction of KAIA North started in the fall of 2007 and was completed by February 2008. Thirty million dollars in construction funding came from 14 different nations. The final migration is expected to be completed later this year.

Source: PAN, 04 May 2009