Biman to construct commercial structures on own lands
Thursday, 12 June 2008
The re-born Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited is going to construct various commercially viable structures on its own lands across the country for enhancing its revenue earning, accommodation of layover passengers, and minimising operating cost, reports UNB.
As a part of this initiative, Biman is going to start construction of a 4-star hotel in the city very soon, officials said. The location of the hotel is at Farmgate where the Biman press, medical centre and poultry-display centre are situated. The total land area of the hotel will be 1.33 acres.
Biman authority has already floated request for Expression of Interest (EoI) from eligible applicants.
As per the Biman sources, the eligibility for participating in the EoI requires that the applicants should have experience of running reputed hotel chains/operators, or local/foreign firms in association/joint-venture with reputed hotel chains/operators.
The hotel might be operated under Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) or Build Operate Own and Transfer (BOOT) or Build Operate and Own (BOO) agreement, or any other such deal for that matter.
"Yes, we are going to construct a 4-star hotel. The board of directors of Biman wanted to utilise such spaces at optimum level," Biman managing director MA Momen said.
He mentioned that Biman has to pay Tk 8.0 million to 10.0 million per month for accommodation of its layover passengers in different hotels.
Special assistant to the Chief Adviser Mahbub Jamil at the agreement-signing ceremony of Boeing aircraft couple of months back hinted that the press of the Biman would be shut down, as the country is much advanced in the printing sector at present and the Biman press is a losing concern.
Well-placed sources in Biman confirmed that the board of directors of the national flag carrier also gave the consent to the plan for building a commercial structure at its Motijheel office.
"Yes, the board has given the decision in this regard. We will aggressively step forward to make the Biman a very much commercially viable organisation like any other best airliner in the world," he said.
Biman presently owns three types of aircraft - four DC10-30s, four F-28s, and three A310-300s. The manufacturing of DC10-30s and F-28s has been discontinued because of their lack of viability in business.
Out of the four DC10-30s, three are 29 years old while the other is 17 years old, the four F-28s are 31 years old, and two of the A310-300s are 11 years old while the other is seven years old.
Biman got the nod to become public limited company in July last year, and the government recently waived all the dues of Biman to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) under a bailout package.
But the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) still claims over Tk 17.89 billion from the Biman, including surcharge. On April 21, CAAB in a letter claimed the money.
Biman MD Momen said the principal amount of the dues is over Tk 5.73 billion. "We hope that this will also be settled very soon," he said.
He also said that the Biman is now spreading its activities at its level best to make the newly-formed company more commercially viable.
"In this regard, we have already leased two Boeing 747s for smooth operation of our flights to the Middle East and Gulf countries," he added.
Biman has signed a long-range deal for the purchase of eight Boeing aircraft at a cost of $1.265 billion. Four of those will be available in 2013, and four in 2019.
As a part of this initiative, Biman is going to start construction of a 4-star hotel in the city very soon, officials said. The location of the hotel is at Farmgate where the Biman press, medical centre and poultry-display centre are situated. The total land area of the hotel will be 1.33 acres.
Biman authority has already floated request for Expression of Interest (EoI) from eligible applicants.
As per the Biman sources, the eligibility for participating in the EoI requires that the applicants should have experience of running reputed hotel chains/operators, or local/foreign firms in association/joint-venture with reputed hotel chains/operators.
The hotel might be operated under Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) or Build Operate Own and Transfer (BOOT) or Build Operate and Own (BOO) agreement, or any other such deal for that matter.
"Yes, we are going to construct a 4-star hotel. The board of directors of Biman wanted to utilise such spaces at optimum level," Biman managing director MA Momen said.
He mentioned that Biman has to pay Tk 8.0 million to 10.0 million per month for accommodation of its layover passengers in different hotels.
Special assistant to the Chief Adviser Mahbub Jamil at the agreement-signing ceremony of Boeing aircraft couple of months back hinted that the press of the Biman would be shut down, as the country is much advanced in the printing sector at present and the Biman press is a losing concern.
Well-placed sources in Biman confirmed that the board of directors of the national flag carrier also gave the consent to the plan for building a commercial structure at its Motijheel office.
"Yes, the board has given the decision in this regard. We will aggressively step forward to make the Biman a very much commercially viable organisation like any other best airliner in the world," he said.
Biman presently owns three types of aircraft - four DC10-30s, four F-28s, and three A310-300s. The manufacturing of DC10-30s and F-28s has been discontinued because of their lack of viability in business.
Out of the four DC10-30s, three are 29 years old while the other is 17 years old, the four F-28s are 31 years old, and two of the A310-300s are 11 years old while the other is seven years old.
Biman got the nod to become public limited company in July last year, and the government recently waived all the dues of Biman to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) under a bailout package.
But the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) still claims over Tk 17.89 billion from the Biman, including surcharge. On April 21, CAAB in a letter claimed the money.
Biman MD Momen said the principal amount of the dues is over Tk 5.73 billion. "We hope that this will also be settled very soon," he said.
He also said that the Biman is now spreading its activities at its level best to make the newly-formed company more commercially viable.
"In this regard, we have already leased two Boeing 747s for smooth operation of our flights to the Middle East and Gulf countries," he added.
Biman has signed a long-range deal for the purchase of eight Boeing aircraft at a cost of $1.265 billion. Four of those will be available in 2013, and four in 2019.