Dhaka airport 3rd terminal: Opening not before 2026

Passengers will have to wait for a year and a half to use the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport as the authorities are yet to figure out the modalities for running the state-of-the-art terminal.
As much as 98 percent of the works for the third terminal is complete, said Md Monjur Kabir Bhuiyan, who was appointed the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) on August 9.
However, it will not be possible to open the terminal for passengers in October as planned earlier, he said.
The reason for the delay is that the consultant commissioned to recommend the vendor to run the terminal and the terms and conditions for the vendor is yet to submit its report, said Sadiqur Rahman Chowdhury, the immediate past chairman of CAAB.
In September last year, the Public-Private Partnership Authority under the Prime Minister’s Office inked a deal with the International Finance Corporation, a concern of the World Bank Group, for transaction advisory service on the operation and maintenance of the third terminal.
The ousted Awami League government had decided in principle to operate and maintain the third terminal by a Japanese consortium under a public-private partnership.

The Japanese company will be responsible for the operational activities of the terminal and CAAB will be in charge of security.
IFC’s report was supposed to recommend the operating cost and the distribution of profit between CAAB and the vendor.
Once the IFC report comes through, the government will examine the report and then sign the agreement with the vendor, Sadiqur said.
Once the PPP agreement is locked, CAAB will start manpower training and trial run of the third terminal, The Daily Star has learnt from the officials involved with the proceedings.
The standard operating procedure for the terminal, which cost more than Tk 21,300 crore to build, is yet to be formulated, they said.
About 6,000 people are needed to operate the third terminal spanning 542,000 square metres round-the-clock in four shifts. About 4,000 people would be required for security alone.
“It will take time to open the terminal for passengers as the necessary manpower will have to be recruited and they need to get training,” the CAAB chairman said.
Subsequently, the terminal will not be operational for another year and a half, according to CAAB officials.
The state-of-the-art terminal was partially opened by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on October 7 last year.
The CAAB and the civil aviation ministry on various occasions announced that passengers will be able to use the third terminal from October this year.
But CAAB suffered its first setback when Aviation Dhaka Consortium (ADC), the contractor for the terminal, could not finish its necessary works before the April 6 deadline.
Subsequently, CAAB extended the deadline for handover by five months.
ADC, a consortium of Mitsubishi Corporation, Fujita Corporation and Samsung C&T Corporation, began the construction of the third terminal on December 28, 2019.
The government contributed Tk 5,000 crore towards the cost of the third terminal, with the rest of the amount coming from the Japan International Cooperation Agency in the form of loans.
The third terminal will boast a floor space of 230,000 square metres, housing 115 check-in counters, 66 departure immigration desks, 59 arrival immigration and 3 VIP immigration desks.
Upon full-fledged operation of the third terminal, HSIA’s annual passenger and cargo handling capacity is expected to double.
The annual passenger handling capacity of the HSIA would be 24 million (including the old terminals). At present, the Dhaka airport can handle eight million passengers and 500,000 tonnes of cargo each year.