Bangladesh approves USD7.2bn airport project

Bangladesh's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved plans for a new international airport near Dhaka, to be completed in 2013 (Daily Star/Reuters, 29-Aug-2010). The USD7.2 billion Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Airport (based on a pre-feasibility study by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism) will have two runways with provision for a third and will be connected to the capital by an elevated expressway and a monorail. The exact location of the international airport will be selected from three possible sites within 50km of Dhaka. Dhaka's existing Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, opened in 1980, has only one runway and could not be expanded due a lack of land.