Govt will spend Tk 3.02b for developing C'Bazar airport

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FE Report
The government will spend Tk 3.02 billion to develop Cox's Bazar airport to attract more tourists to the world's longest sandy sea beach, officials said Thursday.
The civil aviation and tourism ministry will invest the money to make the airport capable of handling several flights to facilitate the country's potential tourism industry.
The government's highest project approval body ECNEC endorsed the first phase of airport development scheme at a cost of Tk3.02 billion.
The executive committee of the national economic council (ECNEC) at a meeting, presided over by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also approved three other projects involving a total cost of Tk 5.16 billion.
A civil aviation ministry official said it will invest Tk 1.51 billion from its own sources while borrow another Tk1.51 billion from the government to develop the airport into a world-standard one.
It will expand the runway and improve the infrastructures there to ensure smooth flight operation, he said.
A top official, who attended the ECNEC meeting, said the prime minister has asked the civil aviation ministry to develop the airport also to facilitate business trips by officials of foreign companies engaged in offshore oil and gas exploration.
The Cox's Bazar, located 150 km south of Chittagong, has an unbroken 125 km sandy beach.
State-run Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) said 435,000 tourists visited the country last year, which was a fraction of Nepal that attracted more than 20 million.
The ECNEC meeting
Thursday approved three other projects.
Approval was given to a Tk 970 million scheme for promoting irrigation facilities through installing double-lifting surface water pumps, setting up of 76 fire-bridged and civil defense stations at a cost of Tk 2.83 billion and construction of another 46 fire-bridged and civil defense stations involving Tk 1.36 billion at important places and upazilas in the country.