Legal complexities over the construction of the third terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) have been settled, paving the way for floating an international tender by Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) next week.
Seeking anonymity, CAAB sources said any contractor can now participate in the tender, provided they have work experience in JICA-funded projects.
CAAB has submitted the final design and other proposals to Japan International Cooperation Agency which is expected to be finalised soon, a CAAB official said.
When contacted for comment on the progress in legal complexities over the construction of the 3rd terminal and HSIA upgradation project, none of the CAAB officials agreed to talk on the issue.
In the 33rd meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation and tourism ministry, the CAAB chief engineer informed that the upgradation work of HSIA became a court issue as the CAAB approved the hangar projects "consciously" on the same site where the construction of the country's prime airport's 3rd terminal and upgradation project was proposed.
Two owners of the hangars filed cases against the aviation authority when tender was invited for removal of various structures from the site selected for the new terminal.
CAAB informed the committee at the 34th meeting held on January 28 that a hearing on the ongoing cases was held at the High Court on January 23 this year and they were in communication with those parties for quick settlement of the cases.
A top official of CAAB, seeking anonymity, earlier said verdict in both the cases would be pronounced by February.
CAAB expects that the construction work of the new terminal will be completed by 2022 at an estimated cost of Tk 140 billion with financial assistance of JICA.
Of the total project cost, Tk 23.96 billion will come from the state exchequer while the rest of Tk 112 billion as project assistance from JICA.
After completion of the terminal, passenger handling capacity of the country's main airport will increase to 12 million from present 8.0 million and cargo handling capacity to 0.5 million tonnes from 0.2 million tonnes annually.
The airport is anticipated to witness passenger traffic of approximately 12 million by August 2022 and up to 22 million by 2035, according to the CAAB's official data.
The expansion work will include the construction of the third passenger terminal building known as Terminal 3 as well as a 5,900-square metre VVIP complex, 41,200-square metre cargo building and multi-level car parking building with tunnel, three taxiway, 12 boarding bridges from present eight, 36 parking bays, two underpasses and one elevated road network connecting the terminal with the airport road, officials said.
The new international passenger terminal building is set to have a floor area of roughly 226,000 square metres.
HSIA began operations in 1980. It was set up on 802 hectares of land in Kurmitola, north of the capital Dhaka.
Currently, the airport has one domestic terminal and two international terminals with a maximum capacity of eight million passengers a year.
The existing terminals have already lost its capacity. The capacity of the third terminal will also be lost by 2022.
CAAB struck an agreement with four consulting firms-Nippon Koei Co Ltd of Japan, Oriental Consultants Global Co Ltd, CPG Consultants Pte Ltd and Development Design Consultants Ltd regarding expansion of HSIA on June 11 last year. The consultants will review the detailed design, tender assistance and supervision.
For funding, another agreement was signed with the Japanese development-financing agency. Government share in the airport-expansion project is Tk 25 billion.
The consulting firms were supposed to start work in July 2017 and complete it in April 2022. CAAB was expected to invite tender in October 2017 and issue work order in March 2018.
The probable date for commencement of the construction work was April 2019 while completion time April 2021 and soft opening December 2019.
JICA has approved the preliminary design and feasibility study done in 2014.
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