Terminal 3 of Shahjalal International Airport is ready with state-of-the-art passenger service facilities. The opening is going to be today Saturday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will officially inaugurate a portion of the terminal.
The face of the country's aviation sector will change around this eye-catching terminal. Many airlines of the world have shown interest in operating flights from Bangladesh through this terminal with modern technology. This terminal with aesthetic construction style and state-of-the-art technology will make Bangladesh known in the world court.
Currently, the size of this 3rd terminal is more than double compared to Terminal-1 and 2 of Shahjalal Airport. The former two terminals have an area of one lakh square meters. And its area is 2 lakh 30 thousand square meters. Architect Rohani Baharin, who has gained worldwide fame by designing the terminals of various international airports around the world, has designed this terminal.
Although the terminal will be partially inaugurated on Saturday, passengers will be able to use all its facilities in December next year. The cargo complex will be operational in April 2024 before passenger use.
The existing two terminals can serve 80 lakh passengers annually. And with this terminal, one crore sixty lakh passengers can be served annually.
The third terminal will enable 600 to 650 flights per day. Less than half of what it was before.
The terminal will have a total of 115 check-in counters, 64 immigration counters, 27 baggage scanning machines, 11 body scanners and 26 boarding bridges.
There are also 16 baggage belts, two high-speed taxiways, capacity to accommodate 37 aircraft, multi-storied parking for 1230 cars. It has a cargo complex of 63 thousand square meters.
The high speed taxiway will connect any aircraft to the terminal quickly from the runway. This will save time for passengers to land.
Civil Aviation Authority Chairman Air Vice Marshal. Mofidur Rahman said, through this terminal, you will get all facilities like the most modern airport in the world. After entering here, there will be no harassment in the automatic 5-layer scanning machine, check in counter, separate scanning system for body and hand bag examination. There are 14 moving workers on two floors to make long-distance internal travel tireless, especially for the sick and elderly. Through which the internal movement of the passengers will be easy from the immigration without standing.
There will be elevators and escalators from one to three floors. By using these technologies, all activities can be completed in a short time until boarding the plane, added Mofidur Rahman.
It will be a reliable platform for airlines as it has all the modern facilities. And because of this dependence, foreign airlines have already shown interest in using Shahjalal Airport. Many foreign airlines are also showing interest in using Bangladesh as a hub.
State Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahmud Ali believes that the face of the airport will change after the third terminal is inaugurated.
Seven thousand piles have been installed at this terminal on an area of about 542,000 square meters. The terminal is connected with highways and elevated expressways, which will help common passengers to reach the terminal without any hassles. 90 percent of the project has been completed 6 months ahead of schedule. By this, the government has saved Tk. 700 crore.
Construction of the three-storey third terminal began in December 2019. Through the Aviation Dhaka Consortium, Japan's Mitsubishi and Fujita and Korea's Samsung are constructing the third terminal building.
It is being built at a cost of Tk. 21 thousand 398 crores. A large part of the amount is coming from the Japanese international cooperation agency JICA. In this, the company is giving Tk. 16 thousand 141 crore 2 lakh 45 thousand as loan. The remaining 5 thousand 258 crore 3 lakh 88 thousand taka is given by the government of Bangladesh. JICA will have to repay this loan within the next 10 years starting from 2027.