The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has carried out security audit of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in the city from November 25 to December 04 after a gap of nine years.
The audit was completed on December 03 and the concluding meeting was held at the airport on Tuesday (December 04).
A four-member audit team of the ICAO conducted the security inspection in nine areas of the airport as part of the Universal Security Audit Programme - Continuous Monitoring Approach (USAP-CMA), sources at the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said.
The last USAP-CMA audit was held in 2009 where Bangladesh performed poorly, a CAAB senior official said.
The objective of the USAP-CMA is to promote global aviation security through continuous auditing and monitoring of the member-states' aviation security performance, in order to enhance their aviation security compliance and oversight capabilities.
Contacted, CAAB member (security) Shah Md Imdadul Haque declined to elaborate on the audit on national security grounds.
CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Naim Hassan told the FE that the ICAO audit team shared some of their observations at the concluding meeting. It will submit the final report within the next one or two months.
"The ICAO team assured us that there was no major security loophole and expressed satisfaction over our measures to enhance aviation security. If we failed in this audit, the airport might have been closed or various restrictions could have been imposed," he said.
This audit will add to the score of Bangladesh aviation security which will help achieve category-1 status, as the ICAO will upload the report on its website and share it with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), he added.
A team from the United States of America is due to arrive in Dhaka to inspect the security situation of Bangladesh aviation, the CAAB chief said.
"Earlier, the security score of Bangladesh was very poor. But this time around, the score is much better," said Mr Naim, adding: "The FAA may consider our excellent score of 77 per cent in safety standard compliance which will also help us."
The CAAB chairman earlier said the ICAO had an observation regarding inadequate human resources of CAAB in maintaining safety and security.
CAAB member (security) Imdadul Haque said they instantly hired 1100 personnel temporarily and trained them to comply with the ICAO standards.
The CAAB has proposed an organogram of 600 persons, which is now pending with the ministry, he said and expressed the hope that the proposal would be approved soon.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
