Khanjahan Ali Airport project stalls for 36 years

Construction of the Khanjahan Ali Civil Aviation Airport at Rampal in Bagerhat district is yet to be completed, although 36 years have passed since the project was first initiated. During this long period, a number of governments have come and gone, but the fate of the airport has remained unchanged.

It is learnt that in 1991, when the BNP government came to power, it adopted a plan to construct a civil aviation airport named the ‘Khanjahan Ali Airport’ at Dhaldah-Jhalbari village near Foilahat area under Rampal upazila in Bagerhat district.

At the initial stage, the government acquired around 97 acres of land for the project. The late Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia ceremonially laid the foundation stone of the airport. After that, however, no significant development work was carried out.

In 1996, when the Awami League came to power, the government took a fresh initiative to construct the airport. During its tenure, the earth-filling work for the airport’s runway was completed.

However, no other work was carried out during the Awami League regime. In 2001, when the BNP came to power for the second time.

local people expected that major construction work on the airport would begin. Unfortunately, the government did not take any significant initiative to develop the airport during its tenure.

In 2008, the Awami League came to power once again, and the government adopted a plan to construct the facility as a full-fledged civil aviation airport at Rampal. With this objective, the government acquired 529.0850 acres of land in nine villages-including Gobindapur, Hogoldanga, Debipur, Sonatunia, Dhaldaha and Jhalbaria-under Rampal upazila during the 2016-17 fiscal year.