PM Hasina opens construction of Dhaka airport's third terminal

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday inaugurated the much-awaited construction work of Tk 213 billion ‘Third Terminal’ of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in the capital aimed at increasing carrying passenger and cargo capacity manifolds.

The prime minister opened the construction work of the third terminal of HSIA by laying its foundation stone this morning.

She also opened Bangladesh Biman’s two new Dreamliner aircrafts Boeing 787-9 -- named ‘Sonar Tori’ and ‘Achin Pakhi’ -- as well as a new mobile app of the national flag carrier on the sidelines of the ceremony.

“After the construction of the third terminal, the HSIA will be the most modern airport in the region… 12 million additional passengers will be benefited annually after building this terminal,” state minister for civil aviation and tourism Md. Mahbub Ali told a press briefing on Friday.

Of the cost of Tk 213 billion, the government will provide Tk 50 billion and the rest to be funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

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

Civil aviation and tourism secretary Md. Mohibul Haque and CAAB chairman air vice marshal M Mofidur Rahman also spoke at the press briefing.

Haque said all operational works of the new terminal will be possible to monitor centrally from a single control room.

The government will float an open tender to select an efficient company for ‘ground handling’ task of the new terminal, he said.

The project with an estimated cost of Tk 136.10 billion got the nod of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on 24 October 2017.

However, the cost of the project enhanced subsequently due to expansion of some of the project works, including setting up of a separate cargo house, the official 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 told BSS on Thursday.

The senior secretary said additional work as well as the extra cost were planned 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 10 December”, Haque said.

The new international passenger terminal building is set to have a floor area of roughly 2.25 million square feet whereas the exiting two terminals of the HSIA have space of around 1 million square feet together.

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

The construction work is expected to take 48 months.

The three-storey third terminal building, designed by Rohani Baharin of internationally renowned CPG Corporation (Private) Limited Singapore, will have a floor space of 230,000 square metres.

It will have 115 check-in counters, including 15 self-service, 66 departure immigration counters, including 10 automatic passport control counter, 59 arrival immigration desks, including five automatic check-in counter and 19 check-in arrival counters, while 16 arrival baggage belts will be set up.

According to the project design, the third terminal will have 12 boarding bridges and conveyer belt each.