SYLHET, Nov 03: An export cargo complex at Osmani International Airport in Sylhet is expected to be opened at a convenient time as its construction has been completed.
To facilitate export of vegetables and other items, a modern scanner machine has been installed in the facility.
The complex will open up a new sphere of opportunities with an increase in the number of international flights from Sylhet.
But the exact date of the complex going into operation could not be ascertained as the warehouse and quarantine facility are yet to be installed.
Presently, Sylhet has five regular direct flights with London's Heathrow, two with Manchester and one each with Dubai, Sharjah and Jeddah every week.
Sylhet MAG Osmani Airport, country's third largest airport, was upgraded to an international one in the late 90s.
The terminal was extended to facilitate the services in 2006 while direct international flights were introduced in 2007.
In the same year, hajj flights started operation.
After the refuelling station was established in 2012, flight operation to the Gulf started in 2015 through the Sylhet-Dubai route.
To turn the airport into a full-fledged international one, the government has taken a mega project involving Tk 21.16 billion, which is already underway.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the first-phase work of the project in 2020.
It includes extension of the runway and construction of a new terminal and a cargo station.
Once the project is completed, the area of the airport will extend three times. About 50 per cent of the work has been completed, sources said.
Business leaders hope that Sylhet would be a hub of regional trade due to the connectivity arrangement with the neighbouring northeastern states of India.
There is a good demand for Bangladeshi products like vegetables, pineapple, citrus, betel leaf, frozen fish, aromatic rice, cane products, embroidered quilts and cottage industry items in the seven-sister states.
The demand is too high in the UK as a good number of Bangladeshi community members, mostly from Sylhet region, live there.
As there is a high demand for products from Bangladesh, the exporters are now compelled to send those from Dhaka for absence of a cargo facility in Sylhet. It costs a lot for various reasons.
Director of the Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Hijkil Gulzar, also director of Jalalabad Vegetable and Frozen Fish Export Group, told this correspondent, "Products of Bangladesh have a good demand in the UK as well as in the Gulf states. We are expecting to start export through the Sylhet cargo facility."
But, exports to those countries will be hampered as the warehouse and quarantine facility are yet to be installed, he lamented.
SCCI President Tahmin Ahmed said the agriculture minister and the state minister for civil aviation at a meeting, organised by the SCCI last year, assured them of setting up a warehouse and certification lab to facilitate export of perishable goods; but there has been no progress in this regard.
"We want the government to establish the facility soon. Otherwise, export would be delayed further," he added.
Director of Osmani Airport Hafiz Ahmed said an explosive detection system (scanner) has been set up at the cargo complex.
Besides, an independent expert from France has recently visited the facility and approved it, he said, adding, "We are now ready to start operation of the cargo complex."
© 2025 - All Rights with The Financial Express
