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ZIA becomes risky

Complaints lodged by different airlines

SHARIER KHAN
Potholes in the taxiway, cracks on the runway, missing landing lights and malfunctioning air-navigational equipment and radar systems make flying in Bangladesh a risky operation while the country's geographic location makes it unavoidable for most airliners flying from east to west and vice versa.
Sources in the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) said over two dozen complaints have been filed by different airliners such as the Saudia, British Airways, Emirates, Thai, Singapore Airlines on the risky condition of the
taxiways and runways at the Zia International Airport (ZIA). But the situation is unlikely to improve within the next one or two years, the sources added.
While the state minister for civil aviation ministry is very keen on purchasing 10 aircraft for Biman Bangladesh Airlines--a perennially losing concern--he pays little attention to the improvement of the civil aviation facilities which fetch the government nearly Tk 200 crore a year.
The only major project in the pipeline to improve the aviation infrastructure is a Tk 300 crore
Danish funded scheme, which has already been delayed by a year now.
"Bangladesh's aviation related infrastructure is one of the poorest in the world although it has big returns and potentials," quipped a source in the aviation industry. The CAAB's workload has multiplied over the years but its manpower has not increased or been trained to that ratio although the CAAB does not need huge additional manpower, he added.
Due to the geographic position Bangladesh naturally attracts huge She ^tar
air traffic every day. Over the last four to five years, air traffic has increased two folds but there had been no improvement of navigational system or the basic infrastructure.
The CAAB sources said it handles 250-300 flight navigational clearances every day fetching around Tk 50 lakh daily (annual $30 million).
In addition, the airports in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore, Rajshahi, Syedpur and Barisal bring in another Tk 35-40 crore annually for providing non-aeronautic facilities, the bulk of which is earned by the ZIA alone.
"Flights to and from Europe, the Middle East, India and the eastern part of Asia fly through Bangladesh airspace. Even Indian local flights from east to west use our airspace. They pay for it. This is our advantage, but it never gets the attention it deserves," said a CAAB source.
"The condition of the four-kilometre taxiway at ZIA is worse than that of any road in Dhaka city. Every 10 yards you can spot potholes that have been recently repaired on makeshift basis. It needs a complete reconstruction. But as this is expensive, the government does not allocate enough funds for a complete task. The makeshift repairs do not last long," he added.
"A similar condition prevails on the 11,000-foot runway at the ZIA. It has many cracks. In addition, its landing light system has gone down. The runway is supposed to be equipped with landing lights at a distance of every 500 feet. But often we don't see lights between 1000 feet," he pointed out.
To ensure navigation safety, the airport is equipped with a Navigation Aid that relays different signals to incoming and outgoing flights. One of its components--Very High Frequency Omni Range Finder (VOR)--helps navigate an aircraft from one airport to another. Its second component is the Instrument Landing System (ILS) that helps pilots to land in a nonvisual condition using instruments. The third component is the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) which shows the distance between the aircraft and the airfield.
"This equipment is 15-20 years old and goes out of order frequently, posing a major safety hazard. We have tabled a Tk 40 crore project for modernising the Navigation Aid. But it has remained on the shelf for the last three years. We are now operating by frequently repairing the equipment," the CAAB source added.
If the ILS is out of order, no pilot will land at ZIA during bad weather and will divert the plane towards the Chittagong airport, if needed.
Out of the seven airports, only the ZIA has two radar systems--a primary and a surveillance radar system. Both the radar systems, which were purchased secondhand 15-20 years back, are out of order most of the times.
"None of the three radarscopes [a vital component] of these radar systems are functioning properly. Years ago, it did not matter much. But now as Bangladesh's airspace has become congested, it has become very difficult for the air
traffic control room to maintain separation between airplanes," said the CAAB source.
Flight separation is a system to ensure that the airplanes do not fly in a collision course.
"Now it entirely depends on the pilots. Almost no other country in the world lacks such radar," he added.
Faced with tremendous workload, the CAAB has recently recruited 10 staff for the air traffic control department. However, there is still a shortfall of 10 more staff in the 40-staff department. The new recruits are being trained locally, whereas they must be trained in modern environment in Singapore and Thailand, aviation experts said.
"Given the hostile and most stressful nature of air control, this department should have a different pay structure. Usually, we don't get people who want to work here," quipped a source.
"Consider the stress on the person handling 20 airplanes at one point of time--one plane is coming from Kolkata, another from Nepal, and so on. This person is getting calls every other seconds and he has to respond to them all and ensure their safety route. And this goes on round the clock without any respite," he added.
"But these people get the same salary as in any other government jobs. There is no scope for making extra bucks or taking bribe. No wonder why people should not want to work here. In India, this department has an entirely different pay structure considering its stress level," he pointed out.
CAAB Chairman Air Commodore AKM Harun Chowdhury told The Daily Star that the Danish funded Tk 300 crore project to install a new radar system, improve landing light system and runway and upgrade the control tower is now awaiting approval of the civil aviation ministry. "We expect to see it go very soon," he said.
"Improvement of equipment or trained manpower is not possible overnight. It will take some time-two to three years--to finish this project," he pointed out.
The chairman added that given the present condition, the CAAB is operating satisfactorily. "Improvement is a continuous process. Equipment will become old at one point and new manpower will require training--these are natural," Chowdhury pointed out.