Around 77.5 percent of the construction work of Third Terminal at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport has been completed so far.

The iconic terminal will open partially (soft opening) in the first week of October.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman revealed this information today at a press conference at the first floor of the under-construction terminal building.

"So far 77.5 percent of the project has been completed. We hope that the soft opening will be done in the first week of October as per the government decision. We want to complete 90 percent of the project before October. Hope the work will be completed before time," said the CAAB chairman.

The terminal building is now widely visible. Currently the interior decoration of the terminal and the installation of various types of equipment are going on.

Mafidur Rahman said, the terminal will be fully functional in 2024 even though it will be soft opening in October.

Photo: Collected

The CAAB chairman said, work is going on round the clock while we have reached the final stage of the implementation of the project. This project is being completed at the earliest with utmost importance, he added.

He also said, the government has decided to partially open the third terminal (soft opening). For this, work is going on day and night in the project area.

"Although the Eid-ul-Azha holiday will start from today, our 3,000 to 4,000 workers will work even on the Eid holiday. They will not only work on the Eid day, they will start the work again from the next day," said Mafidur Rahman.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in December 2019 inaugurated the construction work of the third terminal which will cost of Tk 21,399 crore.

The three-storey terminal building, which will be 2.30 lakh square metres, will have 115 check-in counters, 64 departure and 64 arrival immigration desks, 27 baggage scanning machines, 40 scanning machines, 12 boarding bridges, 16 carousels and 11 body scanners.

Around two crore passengers will be able to use the HSIA following construction of the third terminal, 70 percent of the funding for which is coming from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

Around 130 domestic and international flights -- including 28 foreign airlines' -- carrying 25,000-30,000 passengers use the HSIA every day.