A cabinet committee on Public Procurement on Wednesday (July 29) approved two proposals to expand infrastructures at Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar airports.
In the absence of Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal who is out of the country, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzak presided over the virtual meeting as the convener of the committee.
The meeting was attended by members of the committee, senior secretaries of the cabinet departments, secretaries of the concerned ministries and senior officials.
One of the two proposals of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism was the land procurement for Cox's Bazar Airport Runway Expansion Project.
“This is a very big proposal. One of our priority projects. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said that we want to turn Cox's Bazar into an international tourist port and make it a tourist attraction. A target of Tk 1,868 crore 52 lakh has been recommended for this purpose of the project,” said Minister Abdur Razzak.
The contract for this project has been awarded to CRC (China Resources Holdings), a company from China.
The second proposal in the meeting was to change the use of board piles instead of the steel piles of the foundation of the 3rd terminal building, under the project titled “Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Expansion”.
The minister said, “This project is of great pride for us. We want Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to be a truly international airport. Once the project is completed, I can tell the whole world that we also have an international standard airport.”
It is learned that the initial feasibility report and draft master plan for the construction and expansion of the third terminal at Shahjalal Airport in 2015 went to the Prime Minister's Office.
ECNEC approved the Shahjalal Airport Expansion Project on 24 October 2016. The potential cost of the project is estimated at Tk 13,610.46 crore. The construction work will be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). In addition, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism will provide all kinds of support.
The construction of the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport will take 4 years to complete.
The third terminal building will have three floors. The 230,000-square-meter building was designed by architect Rohani Bahrain. He is the Architect of the internationally renowned CPG Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. (Singapore) under the NOCD-JV Joint Bench Consulting. There will be a total of 115 check-in counters, including 15 self-service check-in counters, for exit from the third terminal.
In addition, there will be a total of 6 departure immigration counters, including 10 automatic passport control counters. In case of arrival, there will be a total of 59 passports including 5 automatic check-in counters and 19 check-in arrival counters. 16 incoming luggage belts will be installed in the terminal.
A total of 4 separate belts will be installed for extra weight luggage. The third terminal will have no connectivity with the existing terminal buildings in the first phase of the project. However, in the second phase of the project, connectivity will be established with the old terminal buildings through connecting corridors. A multilevel car parking building will be constructed along with the third terminal for car parking, there will be 1,044 car parking facilities.
At present there is a separate VVIP complex in Shahjalal for VVIPs, which will be demolished. However, no separate VVIP terminal will be built on the third terminal. Inside the third terminal building, there will be a state-of-the-art VVIP space on the south side.
Moreover, cabinet committee on public purchase also approved of the proposal to purchase consultancy services for Matarbari port at Tk 466.68 crore. The proposal approved at the meeting came from the ministry of power.
Agriculture minister highlighted various aspects of the project and said, Matarbari Port Development Project is part of the Roads and Urban Development Department's consultancy service for detail design, trade assistant and construction supervision approved.
Matarbari Port Development Project is the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport. A total of 5 companies in joint ventures are working on the project.
Oriental Consultant Global Company, a parent company in Japan, will work with local company DCLSA to develop the design. Missy International Limited and PDO Company Limited are also part of the joint venture.
