Construction work on the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) is likely to begin in late December after months of delay.

The work was originally scheduled to start in April last year and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) had planned to finish it by April 2021.

But reasons like legal and bureaucratic complexities and repeated changes in its designs, stalled the process. Later, it was scheduled to start last month.

Land leases were given to several organisations in the airport area. When CAAB issued notices to vacate the land, one of the organisations moved the court.

State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali told UNB that the issues had been resolved and construction work will begin in December.

“The date of inaugurating the construction work will be fixed when the Prime Minister give consent,” the state minister said.

CAAB chairman Air Vice Marshal Mafidur Rahman recently said the construction work will begin on December 28.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally lay the foundation stone of the construction, which is scheduled to be completed by 2023, he said at a views-exchange meeting at the HSIA on December 11.

CAAB sources said the initial feasibility report and draft master plan for the construction and expansion was submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2015.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the expansion project on October 24, 2017 at a possible cost of Tk 13,610.46 crore. Later, it was revised to around Tk21,399.06 crore. Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) is financing the construction work.

Four companies, including NIPPON KOEI, Oriental Consultant Global, CPG Consultants of Singapore and Design Consultants Limited of Bangladesh, were jointly appointed as consultants for the construction project on June 11, 2017. But the consulting firms could not start work in time. The expenditure for the consulting firm has been estimated at Tk 570.79 crore.

The three-storey third terminal building, designed by Architect Rohani Baharin of internationally renowned CPG Corporation (Private) Limited Singapore, will have a floor space of 2,30,000 square metres. It will have 115 check-in counters, including 15 self-service, 66 departure immigration counters, including 10 automatic passport control counter, 59 arrival immigration desks, including five automatic check-in counter and 19 check-in arrival counters, while 16 arrival baggage belts will be set up.

According to the project design, the third terminal will have 12 boarding bridges and conveyer belt each.

Besides, four more conveyor belts will be installed for extra weight bags. In the first phase of the project, there will be no linkage with the existing terminal buildings with the third terminal.

The second phase of the project will connect the old terminal buildings with a connecting corridor. Multilevel car parking building will be constructed with third terminal for car parking.

On completion of the project, the HSIA will be able to provide service to 120 million passengers every year. The passenger handling capacity is now eight million a year. The number of passengers is expected to reach 14 million by 2025 and 24.8 million by 2035.