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Shahjalal airport to get new radars

Shariful Islam and Rejaul Karim Byron
The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh has finally moved to replace two outdated radars at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport that put aircraft landing and takeoff at risk.
Under a Tk 330-crore project, an air traffic control unit, a control tower, a voice communication and control system and a master clock will also be installed.
The existing radars, built in 1984 and 1986 at a cost of more than Tk 17 crore, became obsolete 20 years back and are beyond repair due to unavailability of spare parts. The radars now remain effective only for 12 hours a day.
"For the rest of the day, air traffic is controlled based on flights' positioning reports, which is risky," a Caab communication engineer told The Daily Star.
The cabinet committee on economic affairs yesterday approved the project to be implemented under public private partnership. Caab piloted the project, which may take up to three years to complete.
The process is lengthy and includes various steps like floating tender, its evaluation, issuing work order, and the implementation of the project, a Caab official said asking not to be named.
Caab will have to update the airport's air navigation system by 2015, otherwise the International Civil Aviation Organisation may suspend operations of international flights at the airport, he added.
Currently the airport's surveillance system is capable of monitoring 200 nautical miles of airspace. Many flights operating on new routes over the sea or flying low over the bay and over Sylhet, Rangpur, Chittagong and Cox's Bazar areas can evade Caab monitoring.
Once the new radars are in place, those flights will also come under surveillance and subsequently Caab's income will rise, officials said.
Under the project, the air traffic management systems will be upgraded with integrated and well-connected air traffic control units and equipment.
The installation of emergency operating centre, search and rescue centre, surface movement centre, high frequency air-to-ground standby transceiver, and purchase of vehicles and other logistics for operations are also included in the project.
Around 100 air traffic controllers and communication engineers will be trained over the next 10 years to enable Caab to cope with the 12 percent annual growth in the sector. Of the total project fund, Tk 210 crore will be required for supply, installation and commissioning of the equipment, Tk 45 crore for maintenance and spare parts for the next 10 years, and Tk 75 crore for technical upgrades and overhauling after 10 years.
Most of these works were included in the project taken back in 2008 with funds that were supposed to be provided by Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) as grant, but were left out from the original project due to fund shortages.