Project work to start soon as BPC gets land

Work on the refuelling facilities of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) here will start soon as the authorities recently got possession of the allotted land from the Bangladesh Railway.
Aimed at supplying jet fuel to aircrafts at the MAG Osmani International Airport, the project had been facing stalemate for the last 4 years due to inaction of departments concerned, especially the BR and Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), sources alleged.
The Railway authorities, however, evicted the illegal occupants about a month ago and handed the land over to the state-run BPC's Padma Oil Company.
Contacted, director of the BPC's refuelling facilities project, Aminul Haque said soon after receiving the land, they erected the boundary wall.
"We had to suffer a lot as eviction of illegal occupants from the BR land at Bharthokhola took much time," he added.
Replying to a query, the official informed that the work on the main project would start soon. The Tk 50-crore project is scheduled to be completed by June 2013, he added.
Besides, a year ago we took control of 80,000 square feet area of the CAAB land near Osmani International Airport for a set-up of the project. It would be used for supplying jet fuel to the aircrafts while the storage depot would be built on the railway plot at Bharthokhola, the official said.
CAAB Osmani International Airport manager Md Abdul Hafiz said that the BPC officials recently visited the sites. Work at the airport site may start anytime since it was handed over a year ago, he added.
The jet fuel would be transported to the storage point at airport site from the storage depot at Bharthokhola by road, the official further said.
During a recent visit to the site, attached to the BPC's Padma Oil Company depot at Bharthokhola, this correspondent saw that the construction of boundary wall on the one-acre area was almost over.
Under the programme, 3 storage tanks, fire fighting system, power sub-station, generator room, filtering unit, two dispensing units and a 2-storied office building would be set up, an official told this correspondent.
The project was taken up several years ago, but things remained uncertain due to lack of coordination between different departments, sources said. However, the BPC sped up its activities after the revised project was approved at the Ecnec in January last year.
An official informed that refueling services were essential before allowing the foreign aircrafts to the Osmani International Airport in Sylhet.
Refueling facilities had been a long standing necessity since the airport was upgraded over a decade ago, he pointed out.
Although the runway was improved and extended with the setting up of modern boarding facilities, operation of international flights could not be ensured till date mainly due to the absence of refueling services.
Only a few flights of Biman now operate from Sylhet to places like Dubai, Jeddah and London.