DHAKA, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's highest economic policy-making body has approved a northeastern Bangladesh airport up-gradation project to build a key airport in South Asia.
A Planning Ministry official told Xinhua Thursday that the project, worth nearly 5 billion taka, were approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday.
As part of the up-gradation, the official said the existing runway and taxiway capacity of Osmani International Airport in Sylhet city, some 241 km northeast of capital Dhaka, will be increased.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal earlier told journalists that they are keen to modernize the airport so that it can function as one of the key airports of the South Asia region.
"We want to modernize the airport in such a manner so that wide-bodied air crafts can make landing and take off from it."
Because of the increasing number of flights he said there is need for runways in the airport which is now handling about 30-40 international flights monthly .
According to the official,however, the government's relevant department will soon float an international tender to appoint a contractor to implement the 4.92 billion taka project. (1 U.S. dollar equals to about 82 taka)
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