A new international airport for Dhaka is likely to be built on the other side of the Padma River, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed is going to announce the location very soon. In line with the election manifesto of the ruling Awami League, the Government in 2011 had finalized Arial Beel as the location for the new airport and a satellite city, without conducting any feasibility study. The Government then had to backtrack in the face of violent protests by locals. On the construction of the new Bangabandhu International Airport (#996.20), PM Hasina on 1 February 2017 had told Parliament that a feasibility study on building the airport will begin soon. On 22 September 2016, the CAAB signed a BDT 1.20 trillion deal with Nippon Koei in Japan to conduct feasibility studies, select a suitable site and prepare a master plan for the airport to meet the growing air traffic demand. Under the agreement, the Japanese firm will finish its job in one and a half years. The new airport will replace the capital's ‘Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’ (DAC) from being the local hub. The existing airport had been constructed in the 1960s for domestic use with just one runway and an annual capacity of 8 million passengers. The CAAB says that it is impossible to expand the airport due to residential areas nearby and that its maximum capacity would be reached between 2028 and 2035. The existing Dhaka airport has two terminals to handle international passengers and a small domestic terminal. The Government has approved the airport’s expansion project worth BDT 5.708 trillion to meet immediate air transport demand. Earlier, the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchases selected four companies as consultants for the detailed design of the airport. The four are Nippon Koei Co Ltd, Oriental Consultants Global Japan, CPG Consultant Private Ltd Singapore, and Development Design Consultant Ltd Bangladesh. The consultancy firms will submit their reports on building a third terminal with an annual capacity of 12 million passengers and other infrastructural development at the airport. According to a report by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), the existing terminal building will be insufficient by 2018 and a new terminal will be required by 2019. The volume of passengers is on the rise by some 10% each year. Once the T3 project is completed, passenger handling capacity will increase to 20 million, up from the current 8 million per year. The cargo handling capacity will increase to 500,000 tonnes instead of 200,000 tonnes now. The project’s soft opening will be held in December 2019 while the total construction work is expected to be completed in April 2021. The cargo handling capacity of Shahjalal Airport has already been reached. At the same time, the passenger-handling capacity will be saturated in 2018. Meanwhile, a Korea-Singapore-Bangladesh joint venture consulting company has conducted the feasibility study, updated the Master Plan on DAC which suggested expanding the airport to meet the growing air traffic, a CAAB official said. The consulting firm has also prepared the detailed design for Terminal 3 to handle 12 million passengers by 2025 with an estimated cost of BDT 136.1 billion. "Now the newly-appointed Japanese consultant (Nippon Koei) will update the design and necessary other works for the airport. It will also prepare a document for inviting tenders as soon as possible. The firm will also supervise the construction work of T3," CAAB Director Nurul Islam said. According to the project proposal, the CAAB will build the third terminal, a multi-level parking garage with tunnel, a new cargo complex, a VVIP complex, the parking apron at T3, taxiways, etc. The CAAB has taken a target to build the third terminal by June 2022. CAAB sources said they planned to end the expansion project by 2018, but the bureaucratic process delayed initiating the project work which would lead to a total chaos in order to cope with the passenger rush at the airport. Considering air traffic growth, the Government has taken up the expansion project. After getting the detailed design from the consultancy companies, the Government will take further steps. 
The objective of the project is to expand airport facilities as well as ensure international-standard safety and security by expanding airport terminal facilities and developing related infrastructure. Industry insiders said the expansion project would expedite economic growth in the country. #1060.20