Sylhet Correspondent :
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday gave approval to eight projects costing Tk 2071.80 crore including ‘Increasing strength of existing runway and taxiway of Sylhet Osmani International Airport’ project.
Osmani International Airport project has been approved involving an estimated cost of Tk 451.98 crore to modernize the airport.
The approval came from the weekly Ecnec meeting held at the NEC conference room with Ecnec Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said eight projects were approved Tuesday involving an estimated cost of Tk 2071.80 crore. “The entire project cost will come from the national exchequer,” he added.
Of the approved eight projects, seven are new while one is revised project.
AHM Mustafa Kamal said the ADP implementation rate during the July-January period of the current fiscal year reached 32.41 percent with an overall expenditure of Tk 39,973 crore. The ADP implementation status during the July-January period of the last fiscal year was 28 percent with an overall expenditure of Tk 28,750 crore, he said.
He said such ADP expenditure during this seven-month period is the highest in Bangladesh history.
The Planning Minister said Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority under the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry will implement the Strengthening of Sylhet Airport project by December, 2018 with entire government fund. He said the main objective of the project is to strengthen the existing runway and taxiway of Sylhet Osmani International Airport so that big aircraft like Boeing-777 could safely land and take off from this airport.
The project includes 206824 square meters runway and taxiway strengthening, some 666574 square meter side strip grading and drainage works, installing one step air field lighting system.
The Planning Minister said every year around 1.50 lakh international passengers directly travel through the airport by wide-bodied aircraft and the number of international flights at this airport was 314 in 2013 which is almost double the number of international flights in 2006.
According to a Planning Commission official, many people hailing from Sylhet and the neighboring districts work in foreign countries like UK, the USA, and every year many people travel to those countries through this airport.
“As a result, the Sylhet Osmani International Airport plays a significant role in setting up communication of Bangladesh with the other foreign countries.”
