Feasibility study on 2nd runway at HSIA by June next year
Expansion to double capacity of nation's busiest airport

Jasim Khan

The government has planned to double the capacity of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) by building the second runway at a cost of Tk 10 billion (Tk 1,000 crore), officials said.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has crafted a project proposal on the construction of 2nd Runway and other infrastructure development works to cope with the growing air traffic at the nation's largest airport.

Official statistics say the airport annually handles 4.5 million passengers and 8.0 million cargoes, making it the country's busiest air facility.

Officials said the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has endorsed the project and asked the authority to conduct the feasibility study on the proposed project by June next year.

Civil Aviation and Tourism secretary Md Atharul Islam said the CAAB will conduct the feasibility study for the second runway from its own fund, spending Tk 2.87 billion.

The CAAB has got liquidity certificate from Finance Ministry so that the CAAB can undertake the project from its own fund.

"We will now carry out the feasibility study by June 2013 and has planned to construct the second runway by 2014," CAAB Chief Engineer Sudendhu Bikash Goshawmi said.

He estimated that passenger and cargo transport at the airport would surpass 10 million each by 2020.

Despite surging traffic, he said, the airport has no scope to expand further due to its proximity with the Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Air Force infrastructure. The chief engineer said almost 60 per cent capacity of Shahjalal airport's 2,000 acres of land is currently remains unutilised.

He said the capacity would be doubled after the construction of a parallel runway.

Alamgir Sattar, a retired Biman official, said around 60 aircraft can usually take-off and land per hour in the world's biggest airports, but Shahjalal has the capacity to serve only 10 aircraft

He added the size of its passenger terminal building is too small to implement the modern 'level-five' security.

Besides, the airport is surrounded by urban residential areas and the cantonment zone, which restrict its future expansion possibilities. Shahjalal is also not capable of handling modern jumbo aircraft like Airbus 380, Mr Sattar added.

He noted the airport was built keeping a provision for a parallel runway, and it is still possible to build the second runway by relocating some of the surrounding houses through compensating the owners sufficiently.

Experts argued that the existing 1,500 feet runway of Shahjalal could be extended by another 1,000 to 1,500 feet allowing aircraft to takeoff and land with full fuel and passenger load.