Bangladeshi PM to open Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s 3rd terminal Saturday

Third Terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA). Photo: The Bangladesh Today. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

DHAKA, Dec 27, 2019, The Bangladesh Today. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday will inaugurate the construction work of Taka 21,300 crore ‘Third Terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA)’, aiming to handle more than 12 million additional passengers annually, The Bangladesh Today reported.

“Honorable Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the work at 10.30 am on Saturday and we have already completed all preparations to hold the groundbreaking ceremony,” Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary M Mohibul Haque told BSS after visiting HSIA this evening.

He said finally the project cost stood at Taka 21,300 crore of which the government will provide Taka 5,000 crore and the rest to be funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

“We are expecting to complete the work by 2023,” he added.

The project with an estimated cost of Tk 13,610.47 crore got nod of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on October 24, 2017.

However, the cost of the project raised subsequently due to expansion of some of the project works, including setting up of a separate cargo house, sources said.

“The cost increased as we amplified volume of work that includes separation of export and import cargo houses and construction of new VVIP terminal,” Haque said.

The secretary said additional work as well as the extra cost were planed and calculated as per consultation of JICA’s fact finding mission along with CAAB’s Japan based consultant firm– the Nippon Koi.

“The project’s additional fund was approved by the ECNEC on December 10 last”, Haque said.

Mitsubishi and Fujita of Japan and Samsung of Korea were awarded to construct the 3rd terminal under a consortium, Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) official sources said.

The new international passenger terminal building is set to have a floor area of roughly 22.5 lakh square feet whereas the exiting two terminals of HSIA have space of around 10 lakh square feet together.

The HSIA’s expansion is set to increase the airport’s annual passenger handling capacity from the current eight million to approximately 20 million, and the cargo capacity from 200,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes.

State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali will preside over the inaugural ceremony while Parliamentary Standing Committee on Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry Chairman RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Naoki Ito and JICA Chief representative Hitoshi Hirata will be present.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also scheduled to inaugurate Biman’s two new dreamliners aircraft Boeing 787-9 and a new mobile apps of the national flag carrier on the sidelines of the ceremony.

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