The under-construction third terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) will be inaugurated partially in October.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the terminal.
State Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism Md. Mahbub Ali made the revelation to journalists after inspecting the airport immigration and the under-construction third terminal on Tuesday.
Mahbub Ali said, “The soft opening of the third terminal at HSIA will be done in October this year. It is expected that the Prime Minister will inaugurate a part of the terminal. Despite the pandemic, the construction work of the terminal had not been stopped. Already 60 percent work has been completed. Various parts are coming that are being installed in the terminal. The main infrastructure work will be completed in October.”
To handle the future passenger capacity, the terminal will play a significant role in the country.
Citing a silent revolution going on in the aviation sector of the country, the state minister said that the terminal construction is going on at Sylhet International Airport. Cox’s Bazar Airport is undergoing extensive development work including runway extension. Apart from this, development work is going on at Chattogram, Saidpur and Jashore airports.
To facilitate the foreign visitors with on arrival visas, the authority concerned is also working to make it easier. In this regard, while replying to a question he said, “We have already talked with the home minister to erase the problems. The e-gate at the airport is functioning, but to make it 100 percent functional, there are some related works to be completed.”
While replying to another question, Mahbub Ali said, “Air traffic at HSIA is currently suspended for five hours at night as the work of upgrading the runway’s Instrument Landing System (ILS) from Category-1 to Category-2 is underway. However, we are trying to ensure that passengers do not face any problem due to this. After the completion of the ILS system update, the current restrictions on aircraft landing at the airport in dense fog will be largely removed.”
Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry Secretary Mokammel Hossain, Additional Secretary (Planning) Sukesh Kumar Sarkar, CAAB Chief Engineer Abdul Malek and senior officials of Aviation and CAAB were present in the press conference.
