The civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry will soon decide for fixing the location of the proposed country’s much-awaited Bangabandhu International Airport.
According to the proposed plan, the ministry planned to build the airport at Madaripur-Shariatpur region has been cancelled due to lack of acquiring land from the density of people in the areas.
Under the recommendation of the experts, the ministry is looking for a suitable place near Dhaka.
In this regard, the civil aviation ministry will meet the representatives of the private stakeholders of the flight operator next week.
Sources said the Bangabandhu International Airport will be constructed near the capital instead of the previously fixed location in Madaripur-Shariatpur region.
The building of airport will require 8,000 acres of land while the estimated timeline for construction will be 10 years with a cost of Tk 50,000 crore.
The project will be implemented under Public-Private Partnership. Ministry sources said, the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry asked Nippon Koei Company of Japan to search for the new location with the condition of being near Dhaka for the proposed new airport.
Mohibul Haque, secretary of the ministry while contacted told Daily Industry that the government has scrapped the idea of building the airport at the previously proposed location due to densely packed households there.
The secretary also said that the construction will require land measuring 8km in length and 5km in width.
Asked about the new location, he said that it will be within 50 to 60 kilometers of the capital.
The consulting company has already completed feasibility studies of the project at Zajira and Shibchar areas from July 2015 which was supposed to be completed by June this year at a cost of Tk 136.75 crore.
But the Japanese company submitted the report before the due time at a cost of Tk 120 crore, saving the government over Tk 16 crore.
“We all know about the Munshiganj incident that took place in 2010. We had started working there, but in the face of locals’ protest, we were compelled to stop the project for a new airport at the eastern side of the Padma Bridge, but the decision has again changed and it will now construct near the capital instead of the previously fixed location in Madaripur-Shariatpur region said an official of the civil aviation ministry yesterday.
Once the airport is built the country will be facilitated like Singapore, he added.
‘The proposed Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib International Airport will be built to make Bangladesh a communication hub between East and West,’ said Mohibul Haque, secretary of the ministry.
Besides, he said, mega projects including construction of the third terminal at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, upgrading Cox’s Bazar to an international airport and development of Sylhet International Airport already been started.
dailyindustry
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