Govt revives new int’l airport plan

The government has taken a fresh initiative for a large international airport and dethrone Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport from being the hub aerodrome.

It has preliminarily selected three possible sites, two of which are in districts close to Dhaka and the other inside Dhaka district, said reliable sources requesting not to be named.

The government has signed a Tk-120-crore deal with a Japanese firm to conduct feasibility studies, selecting the site and making a master plan for the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib International Airport.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Chairman Air Vice-Marshal Ehsanul Gani Choudhury and Deputy Director General of Nippon Koei of Japan Toshikazu Kambara signed the deal yesterday.

CAAB will pay for the studies from its own funds.

Under the agreement, Nippon Koei, founded in 1946, will finish its job in a year and a half, the CAAB boss told reporters after the signing ceremony at its Kurmitola office.

According to the Nippon Koei website, the group has approximately 700 technical specialists in necessary fields and offers solutions to an enormous range of technical issues. It has presence in 12 countries.

In the briefing, the CAAB chairman said eight to nine places have been kept as preliminary selection and the one which is deemed best would be chosen.

He refused to name the places.

However, talking to some reporters later in his office, he hinted that any of the vast deserted char areas in the country’s southern part was a likely site for the airport.

Highly placed sources yesterday told The Daily Star that the government high-ups had instructed the civil aviation ministry to keep Char Janajat of Shibchar in Madaripur, which is around 75km from the capital, as a possible site for the airport.

The CAAB chairman said the present infrastructure facilities of the country’s existing airports were not enough to meet the growing air traffic.

He said Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport was constructed in the 60’s for domestic use with just one runway. The airport has an annual capacity to deal with 8 million passengers, he added.

The CAAB chief also said it was not possible to expand the airport due to residential areas near by and that the maximum capacity of the airport would be utilised between 2028 and 2035.

“The government has taken the initiative to construct a modern hub airport considering the country’s importance in bridging the east and the west.”

About the process of selecting Nippon Koei, the CAAB chief said some 14 international companies bid for the job and the CAAB picked the Japanese firm following scrutiny by experts.

About providing security to Nippon Koei officials and employees, he said the government would provide foolproof security for them until the project was completed.

According to CAAB, the country has three international and 12 domestic airports. At least 38 airlines use Bangladeshi airports.

In 2011, then Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib International Airport Construction Cell had selected four locations for the airport — Keyain in Munshiganj, Char Bilashpur and Char Latubdi in Dohar upazila of Dhaka, and Char Janajat.

Before that, the cell had also selected Trishal in Mymensingh, Baghiar Beel in Madaripur-Gopalganj and Bhanga in Faridpur for a possible site.

In 2011, the government, without any feasibility study done, finalised Arial Beel to build the new airport and a satellite city in line with the election manifesto of the ruling Awami League.

The government then had to backtrack in the face of violent protests by locals. The clashes that ensued left a policeman dead and many locals and law enforcers injured.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in February, 2011, announced that a new site would be chosen “on the other [south] side of the Padma river”.

Source: The Daily Star