Finally, the government of Bangladesh woke up after 29 years. Zia International Airport is probably going to see the 2nd runway though it was there in the original master plan during the construction of the then mini terminal building and the airport which now handles 400 flights a week which is on an average 57 flights a day.
The new runway if built should be offering a lot of additional facilities befitting an international airport, especially during any emergency when a runway goes inoperative.
It is learnt a committee headed by a senior member of Caab administration has been formed who will submit a feasibility report as soon as their scrutiny of and sifting through the relevant data is done. The present airport certainly has changed a lot as far as the terminal area is concerned but the space for building a second runway was there for the last 29 years but the only obstacle we see for building the runway is Uttara RA, on the northern part and Nikunjo on the southern part along with some high-rise buildings on the south-eastern part of the only International Airport we have in Dhaka.
There are the areas which may become an obstacle for a smooth and safe take off and landing plus security to the airborne aircraft. The question is when and how soon these structure will be removed and the bigger question is that the land & building owners need to be compensated at the present value of their respective properties at a time so that they find a new place for their accommodation. The land/building owners are not guilty of making buildings and homes as I believe they have necessary documents obtained from Rajuk.
The airport which has a two miles long runway with 03 taxiways was in dire need for a second runway starting from the 1990s when the number of flights started to increase along with bigger aircraft every year.
Having two runways certainly will be very helpful, especially at times of emergency when the runway in use has to be shut down, which we have seen many times.
If at all this runway is built, the Caab authorities along with the supervision of the government have to improve and install the in-house facilities of the airport which I am not going to elaborate as a few articles as well as letters were published in the DS on this matter. The house keeping of the airport needs to improve dramatically. In today's modern era, the airport is considered the gateway to the country and the person who is arriving for the first time in Bangladesh does get the impression how dirty we are as a nation as soon he/she lands his/her feet into the boarding bridge.
However,the government should think twice before making the second runway and spending all the money if they are to keep the airport at this present location as we understand that before the elections both the big parties informed us that they would shift the airport to another location.