Deal signed for construction of Dhaka airport’s third terminal

An agreement has been signed for the construction of a third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and Aviation Consortium Dhaka signed the deal at the airport on Wednesday, according to a statement.

The consortium comprises Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and Fujita Corporation, and South Korea-based Samsung C&T Corporation.

Nippon Japan and the engineers of CAAB will oversee the project.

Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, chairman of CAAB, and Yasunori Sakamoto, general manager of Mitsubishi Corporation, signed the agreement.

Md Mahbub Ali, the state minister for civil aviation and tourism, witnessed the signing.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md Mohibul Haque, Japanese Ambassador Naoki Ito, and Hitoshi Hirata, chief representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA in Bangladesh, were present along with other senior officials in the signing ceremony.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the project to construct the Terminal-3 of the airport and unveiled the plaque last month as part of efforts to modernise it besides ensuring security.

This extended terminal-3 will be built on the south side of the airport’s main terminal at an estimated cost of Tk 214 billion.

JICA will fund a part of the total expenditure. The rest will be provided by the government.

A passenger terminal building, roads, an airport apron, a parking lot, a cargo complex, and other structures will be built under the project.

Construction of the terminal is expected to take four years to complete.

About 20 million passengers will be able to travel through the airport annually after the completion of the project, according to officials.

Samsung C&T will get over Tk 50 billion for its job in the project.

The government expects the airport to become the “best” airport in the region once the project is complete.