CAAB hangar project gets underway

FT ONLINE

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) launched a hangar project this month as part of the upgradation of Dhaka airport, an official said.

An agreement on the 13-month project was signed on September 30 this year.

National Development Engineers (NDE) Ltd, a local construction firm, and Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG), a Chinese company, are implementing the project at a cost of Tk 4.50 billion, he said.

It includes construction of 10 hangars, one connecting taxiway, an apron opposite to the fire station, and one six-storey multipurpose building. Of the total, nine hangars are for maintenance of small aircraft and another big hangar for maintenance of all e-series aircraft.

CAAB is implementing the project with its own fund, the official added.

Seeking anonymity, a CAAB source said it is a supporting project of the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA). The third terminal project cannot be implemented if the hangar project is not executed, he added.

"Now there are nine hangars at HSIA which are fully operational where the third terminal has been proposed. These will be shifted once new hangars are constructed," he said.

There will be another big hangar, 102 metres in length and 75 metres in width, for maintenance of all the wide-body aircraft that Bangladesh has including Boeing-777 and Dreamliner 787, the official said.

CAAB has been implementing the HSIA upgradation project with financial support from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at a cost of Tk 140 billion to enhance its passenger and cargo handling capacity. The third terminal is expected to be completed by 2022.

The CAAB official said the ground floor of the multipurpose building with an area of 60,000 sq ft will be used to control the air movement of private aircraft and choppers. The rest of the floors will be used as office and training centre.

He also said there was no legal complexity over any hangar at HSIA. But there were some other legal complexities regarding property of two private lessees which have been settled now, the official said.