Bangladesh govt to station security contractors at Dhaka airport by March 20

With Bangladesh trade suffering due to the embargo on air shipment at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by the United Kingdom, the Sheikh Hasina government has decided to put world class security service contractors in place at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by March 20.

Also Read – UK govt stalls air shipment from Bangladesh on security grounds

This decision was announced after a meeting between Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Alison Blake at the former’s office on Monday (March 14). Due to the ban on air shipments owing to security “issues”, manufacturers and exporters of most industries in Bangladesh, including apparel, were facing the brunt. This move came almost a week after the UK government prohibited direct air shipment from Bangladesh on March 8, after security assessments of the Dhaka International Airport found that some international security requirements were not being met.

Also Read – Bangladesh commerce minister hopes UK would lift air embargo soon

“We will appoint the service conductors by March 20, as a fast solution to the security problem at the airport,” Ahmed said. The government had earlier formed a high-level seven-member panel for improvement of the security management and development of the cargo area facilities at the Dhaka airport.

Also Read – Foreign trade hit by ‘inept cargo handling’ at Dhaka International Airport

The government has taken up this issue on war-footing, since failing to meet the UK government’s requirements on cargo facilities and airport security by March 31 would lead to a ban on passenger aircraft from Bangladesh by the UK as well.

Since the prohibitory orders on cargo shipment were put in place, the state-run Biman, which has an annual revenue of Tk100cr from cargo flights, has lost around Tk50 lakh per flight.