The third terminal building at Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport is complete, but key works needed to open the facility remain unfinished, Civil Aviation Minister M Rashiduzzaman Millat has said.

The ministry has sought another Tk 9.02 billion to make the terminal operational, with a proposal sent to the planning ministry for approval and the finance ministry arranging the allocation, he told parliament on Sunday.

Millat was responding to a supplementary question from Noakhali-6 MP Abdul Hannan Masud of the National Citizen Party (NCP).

Masud noted that the project, initially estimated at around Tk 130 billion in 2017, had undergone several cost increases.

He questioned why another Tk 9.02 billion was needed despite 99.91 per cent of the work being completed and whether this could create scope for contractor irregularities.

The minister said the cost had reached around Tk 216 billion when the current government took office. Although the building was complete, key works and equipment integration remained unfinished.

“Once we pay this Tk 9.02 billion, we will be able to open the third terminal,” he said.

He added that around Tk 11 billion had already been paid towards a JICA loan instalment.

The minister warned that delaying the opening would leave around $2.1 billion in assets unused. The terminal would nearly double passenger capacity and generate revenue to help repay the JICA loan.

He also said 57 per cent of Operational Readiness and Airport Transfer (ORAT) work was complete, with the rest targeted for completion on schedule.