German firm shows interest to build Bangabandhu airport

Germany's Avi Alliance is keen to implement the Bangabandhu International Airport project under public-private partnership (PPP), as the government moves to build it as a global aviation hub.
The German-based multinational's top officials expressed their intention to design, construct, finance, operate and maintain the proposed international airport during a meeting with Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism Rashed Khan Menon at the latter's office in the secretariat Monday.
"The government has planned the BIA to establish Bangladesh as an aviation hub for the East and the West," said the minister in the meeting.
Japanese Nippon Koei Co Ltd has primarily selected three potential sites - Char Janajat of Shibchar in Madaripur, Kiyain of Sirajdikhan in Munsiganj and Char Bilashpur of Dohar in Dhaka - for the multipurpose airport complex.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) had assigned the Japanese firm to carry out feasibility study for site selection and drafting a master plan for the Bangabandhu International Airport under a Tk 1.20 billion deal signed on September 21, 2016.
Around US$4.0 billion would be required to construct the airport and the contractor would be selected on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis initially for 25 years.
The tenure could be extended for further 20 years, Mr Menon said during the meeting.
Some 10,000 new jobs would be created with the implementation of the project, which would contribute significantly to boosting trade and investment and helping the tourism sector flourish, the minister said.
Civil Aviation and Tourism secretary SM Golam Faruq, CAAB chairman Air Vice-Marshal M Naim Hassan, Avi Alliance's project director for Budapest Johan Merten and its director Ansgar Fischer were among others present at the meeting. Explaining the necessity of the new airport, officials said the country's main airport -- Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA)--was constructed in the 1960s with just one runway. The airport has an annual capacity to deal with 8 million passengers.
It was not possible to expand the airport due to residential areas around and the maximum capacity of the airport could be utilised between 2028 and 2035. The country currently has three international and 12 domestic airports. At least 38 airlines use Bangladeshi airports.
Earlier in 2011, Arial Beel of Munshiganj was selected as the site for building the BIA without any feasibility study. The move had triggered violent protests by locals, leaving a policeman dead and many locals and law-enforcement personnel wounded.
The government then had to backtrack and announced a fresh plan to select a new site for the airport.

Azizjst@yahoo.com