Dhaka : Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the major development partner of Bangladesh in various sectors including aviation, received a special Citation Award at ShareTrip Monitor Airline of the Year 2023 held at InterContinen-tal Dhaka on September 20.

Ichiguchi To-mohide, Chief Represen-tative of JICA Bangladesh Office received the award on behalf of his organisation.

Bangladesh and JICA have celebrated 50 years of successful cooperation in 2023. Over the years, JICA has been making remarkable contributions to the aviation sector of Bangladesh, among other areas.

JICA has been actively supporting and financing the expansion and modernisation of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital for accommodating international passengers and cargo demand up to 2030.

JICA is currently supporting the construction of a new passenger terminal (Terminal 3), a new cargo complex with separate buildings for export and import cargo, multilevel parking with tunnels, parking aprons, taxiways, service road, modernisation of water supply and sewage system, communication system, rescue and firefighting facilities, security and terminal equipment and others.

JICA's ODA loan would amount to more than JPY 200 billion (equivalent to BDT 15,000 crore) for the project.

In order to improve ground handling services of Biman Bangladesh Airlines at HSIA, JICA is also extending its technical support to enhance ramp service capacity and ground service equipment (GSE) operation capacity, as well as GSE procurement and maintenance capacity of the national airline.

Earlier, in the 90s, JICA had provided advisory, technical and financial assistance to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh for modernisation and expansion of the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram.

For this purpose, JICA provided ODA loan to the tune of JPY 11,286 million (equivalent to BDT 840 crore) in two phases.