Civil aviation and tourism minister M Faruk Khan on Thursday said that the newly built third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport would be opened by the end of this year, or beginning of the next year.
鈥楧espite the Covid-19 pandemic and global recession we are completing this work almost in time, and we are hoping that by the end of this year, or at the beginning of next year we will be able to operate it,鈥� he said.
The minister also said that he was satisfied that 97 per cent construction works of the third terminal had been completed.
鈥楾he remaining three per cent work contains important work like coordination and testing,鈥� he said, expressing hope that the remaining work would be complete in time.
He came up with these remarks while talking to the reporters after visiting the project work at the airport in the capital.
M Faruk Khan also remarked that not only beauty of the airport was important maintenance too should be given high importance, and observed that the infrastructure demanded better maintenance.聽聽
Replying to a question he said that planning was underway for a dependable second runway for HSIA, but surrounding buildings was particularly a worrisome matter in this regard.聽
Saying that luggage handling was a big challenge for any country, he said that currently at the airport the first luggage was delivered within 15 minutes and the last one in 40 minutes.
Different initiatives are underway to improve the luggage handling service, the minister said.聽聽
About a question on Dhaka鈥揘ew York flight, he added that the US agency Federal Aviation Administration had yet to give them the approval.
Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman said that all works of the airport would be completed by this October.
Civil aviation and tourism ministry secretary Md Mokammel Hossain was also present during the visit.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina made the soft launch of the third terminal on October 7, 2023.
The third terminal construction project鈥檚 groundbreaking ceremony was held in December 2019, while the construction work began in April 2020.
As per the original detailed project pro forma, the project cost was Tk 13,610.47 crore, and after the first revision the project cost is now Tk 21,399.06 crore, of which the Japan International Cooperation Agency is giving an aid of Tk 16,141.02 crore, and the rest comes from the Bangladesh government.聽
The financial progress of the project is now 84 per cent.
Once the third terminal is fully operational, the annual passenger handling capacity of the airport will increase to 20 million from the current eight million.
