A move is underway to integrate the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway (DAEE) with the airport's imposing third terminal which now sees significant construction progress with the development of major infrastructures.
Sources say Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) and the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) last week sat to discuss the linking that would require a separate new project to be undertaken.
Meanwhile, almost half construction work of the third terminal at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) has been completed.
The BBA has been building the DAEE located few kilomtres north of the HSIA to facilitate high-intensity traffic movement through Abdullahpur to Ashulia, Baipail and Nabinagar. The overhead roadway also crosses over Dhaka Export! Processing Zone.
Officials say though the two agencies have, meanwhile, integrated the originally designed Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) with the terminal 3 to facilitate airport traffic to enter the city centre as well as Dhaka-Chattogram highway at the time of project planning, the other side connectivity of the airport was, however, ignored.
Meeting sources said both the sides agreed the need of integration for having expected traffic from the zones of EPZ and new town and decided to explore its ways to integrate with the terminal through forming a committee.
They also decided to include Bangladesh Railway (BR) in the committee for proper integration as a significant part of the land nearby the HSIA is owned by the state-owned railway.
"The committee will look into the matters through reviewing related documents and propose scope of study and integration," says an senior official, preferring not to be named.
He also said integration work may be incorporated with separate project due to the continuing of both the project works.
The CAAB has been implementing the Tk 213.99 billion third-terminal project since 2019, which is progressing 1.9-percent ahead of expectation with the target of inauguration by October 2023. This project's works were not stopped even during the pandemic lockdown amid Covid-19 onslaught.
But route of the DAEE was fixed after a pre- feasibility study in 2012 in line with the recommendation in the 20-Year Strategic Transport Plan which was approved in 2009. Its final FS was done in 2016, proposing the linking of Abdullahpur, Baipayl, Dhour, Ashulia, Nabinagar and Chandra.
The 3rd airport terminal, being built on 542,000 square metres of land, will have various modern airport facilities, including parking facility for 1,230 vehicles and 63,000-square- metre import and export cargo complex. The government took the initiative to construct a third terminal due to saturation of the 1 and 2 terminals that had handling capacity of 8.0 million passengers a year.
The 3rd terminal is planned to handle over 20 million passengers a year, of which, experts say, the existing road and DEE will not be enough to ensure smooth mobility. Though the government has planned to link the HSIA with metro rail and multimodal transport hub, work on those projects have yet to make progress.
smunima@yahoo.com