The cost of building the third terminal at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) is going to be swelled by 57 per cent even before the start of its construction, officials said on Tuesday.
After failing to begin the new terminal construction during the last two years, the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) has sought revision of the terminal construction project.
It sought hiking the cost to Tk 213.99 billion from the current cost of Tk 136.10 billion.
The CAAB has also requested the Planning Commission (PC) to extend the project implementation time by three more years up to June 2025 from the current deadline of June 2022.
"We have sought revision of the project, as bidding price of its Japanese JV contractor is higher than our official estimation," Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Atiqul Huq told the FE.
Besides, changes of some elements in the Development Project Proposal (DPP), including consultant appointment and airport equipment purchase, have also been made in the revised proposal, he added.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the Tk 136.10-billion project in October 2017 for building the new terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) by June 2022.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing lion's share of the project cost for constructing the terminal at HSIA.
Meanwhile, the CAAB picked up the Aviation Dhaka Consortium (ADC), comprising of Mitsubishi Corporation, Fujiata Corporation and Samsung C & T for building the terminal.
According to the ministry officials, the selected Japanese-Korea-Bangladesh consortium submitted a bid setting Tk 205.98 billion as cost for constructing the third terminal. The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase approved the bid last month.
However, in the current DPP with cost fixed at Tk 136.10 billion, the preliminary estimation for constructing the third terminal was set at nearly Tk 101 billion.
The officials said they prepared the DPP, based on the feasibility study and preliminary design of the terminal by the JICA.
Currently, HSIA, the country's largest airport, has two international terminals and one domestic terminal for carrying passengers and freight services.
The airport terminals are now overburdened with a growing number of passengers, which hinders providing better services to local and international passengers.
According to the CAAB, the number of passengers using the airport is growing at 3.2 per cent rate every year, while that of cargo at 7.0 per cent rate.
The HSIA handles some 8.0 million passengers every year, which will rise to 14 million by 2025 and 24.8 million by 2035, a survey data showed.
Meanwhile, the CAAB has sought higher funds from the public exchequer compared to that of project assistance (PA), to be provided by the JICA, for constructing the terminal.
Out of the Tk 213.99 billion revised cost, the CAAB has now sought Tk 161.41 billion, 44 per cent up from the current estimation of Tk 112.15 billion, to be provided by the JICA as PA.
It has also sought Tk 52.58 billion fund, 119.5 per cent up from the current estimation of Tk 23.95 billion, from the government's internal resources.
A Korea-Singapore-Bangladesh joint venture consulting company has already conducted the feasibility study, and updated the master plan on HSIA.
It suggested expanding the airport to meet the growing aircraft flow in Bangladesh, an official said.
The CAAB official also said the consulting firm in its study showed that the air traffic growth in HSIA is one of the fastest in Asia, prompting a massive upgradation of the airport.
According to the project proposal, the CAAB will build the third terminal, multi-level car parking with tunnel, new cargo complex, VVIP complex, parking apron at terminal-3 area, and taxiways etc.
