Proposed international airport
The government has started to acquire more than twenty five thousand acres of wet and agricultural land near the capital city for the purpose of constructing a new international airport. My first question is why suddenly it has become necessary to construct a new airport in close vicinity of another one at a colossal cost, leaving aside other burning problems of the country, whereas the existing international airport is capable of handling the present inflow and outflow of passengers quite comfortably?
While we are clamoring for funds to battle with the adverse effect of climate change in Bangladesh, are we not creating more climatic problems by filling up a large chunk of wetland and agricultural land vitally needed for food production for our hungry people and destroying fish and bird sanctuaries causing ecological imbalance? Has any environmental study been carried out? Before undertaking such a gigantic project a feasibility study is needed to be carried out by the experts.
If only to commemorate the name of a national leader such an ambitious project is undertaken, we can only pray to Almighty Allah to save this nation. Who will guarantee that the name of the new airport will not also be changed with the formation of a new government by other political parties in future? What will happen if the present government fails to complete the project during their tenure and another party comes to power next? As seen in the past, undoubtedly, the partially done project would be declared abandoned.
It is necessary for the government to prioritize issues instead of paying unnecessary attention to unimportant ones.
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We are deeply shocked by learning that the government is planning to build another airport. According to the report published in The Daily Star on December 29, 2010, the government's decision of building Bangabandhu International Airport covering an area that includes thousands of acres of agricultural land and the biggest wetland near the capital without any feasibility study and environment impact assessment (EIA) has triggered mass protests in the locality.
On December 27, several thousand people formed a human chain and barricaded Dhaka-Mawa Highway at Hasara in Munshiganj for four hours in protest of the plan.
From TV news I learned that some vested quarters are trying to portray the proposed area as a barren land which is not at all true. I have seen on the TV screen the lush greenery, the yellow mustard flowers covering the proposed airport site, the vegetables growing abundantly and the wetlands filled with fishes. It will be a crime to destroy all these for a whim.
We have already three international airports, there is no need for another airport right now. The government must abandon the plan. It is our firm belief that if Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was alive, he would not have supported this plan, as a friend of the people he would have been sympathetic to their cause.
Nur Jahan
Chittagong
Chittagong
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