Users suffer as Dhaka airport lacks dedicated transport system

498394-gifUsers suffer as Dhaka airport lacks dedicated transport system
The country’s main international airport has long been running without any dedicated transportation system and facility for its thousands of inbound and outgoing passengers, whose number has increased manifold over the last three decades.

In absence of such an important facility, both domestic and international passengers and users of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) have to depend on private cars, microbuses or CNG-run auto-rickshaws to travel to and from the airport. However, they remain stranded in long tailbacks, especially at the airport’s entry point.

Analysts and observers opined that the international airports across the world are usually connected by uninterrupted transport services through road and rail network. But HSIA in Dhaka is yet to take any such initiative although it handles 50,000 persons daily on an average.
They said availing rail service from Airport Railway Station, located just opposite to HSIA, is not always possible due to lack of easy access to and from the airport.

Besides, the buses having stoppages close to the airport link-road are not passenger-friendly and are often parked afar from the airport.
When asked, Professor of BUET and a transport expert Shamsul Hoque said HSIA has been the country’s busiest airport. But it lacks transport planning for the users, including the domestic and international passengers, which in turn has made the airport crowded with small vehicles like private cars, microbuses etc.

The situation is likely to become worse in the coming years, if any immediate effort is not made in this regard, as a recent study forecasts manifold increase in the number of passengers at HSIA over the next 20 years, he also said.

According to a latest study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), more than 100,000 people daily use HSIA and Airport Rail Station. More than 43,000 people use Airport Rail Station daily, but hardly any of them use it for airport purpose.
At present, 69 per cent cars, followed by 18 per cent microbuses and 11 per cent CNG auto-rickshaws crowd at HSIA’s two international terminals, while the domestic terminal deals with 27 per cent microbuses and 13 per cent cars.

Although the study shows 47 per cent users of the domestic terminal use buses as their mode of transport, they often face troubles while having a long walk to reach the airport premises.
In another study done under HSIA’s expansion project, JICA forecasts that the airport will get 6.5 million passengers in 2016 with the number expected to be increased to 8.4 million in 2020, 12 million in 2025 and 24 million in 2035.

Bangkok International Airport of Thailand handled 19.3 billion passengers through the airport rail-link in 2015. Kuala Lumpur International Airport of Malaysia handled 9.0 million people through the express rail-link only the year before.

The government in the recent years has taken different measures to introduce a mass transit system in Dhaka, including metro-rail and dedicated bus service titled bus rapid transit (BRT). But analysts said none of these was planned to have connectivity with HSIA by way of providing stoppage facility at the airport or through any tunnel or belt from the stoppage.

Almost all the international airports now have dedicated airport transport facility for passengers and users, like – mono-rail facility, express rail-link, airport rail-link, shuttle bus, and taxi services etc, they viewed.

A proposal of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) made in the strategic transport plan to establish a multimodal transport hub with all road, rail, bus and taxi facilities at the airport station has been pending for the last five years.

Officials said the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has taken into account all these problems in its recent plan for airport expansion. Accordingly it started conducting a feasibility study, under which a modern transport system is likely to be proposed for HSIA.
Dr Hoque, however, was of the opinion that the airport needs some short-, medium- and long-term measures to establish dedicated transport service for its passengers and users.

Since establishing a BRT, MRT or expressway is expected to take a long time, he suggested that the authorities concerned can take measures to connect Airport Railway Station with HSIA through underground link by establishing walkway, conveyor belt and special trains etc.
“At least the passengers in that case can get alternatives to road transport between Dhaka city and HSIA,” he told the FE.

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