Year after year the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has been battling to keep the airspace surrounding Dhaka’s airports clean of buildings that exceed the height limit.
The CAAB repeatedly wrote to Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) to take action well before the tragedy at Milestone School and College that claimed 36 lives, mostly children, a year ago yesterday.
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“Over the past decade, more than 640 buildings were flagged for violating airport height restrictions,” Air Commodore Md Nur-e-Alam, member (Air Traffic Management) at CAAB, told The Daily Star.
A set of CAAB documents prepared since 2015 and obtained by The Daily Star recently showed at least 325 structures exceed the permitted height restrictions around Tejgaon Airport and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).
The structures include 178 residential buildings, 121 commercial establishments, 11 government structures, five hospitals, five hotels, and five educational institutions.
Of them, 202 encroached on the protected airspace around Tejgaon Airport and 123 around HSIA.
The documents also show that CAAB continued alerting Rajuk about the violations in the months leading up to the Milestone tragedy.
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Between January and June last year, the regulator sent at least six letters seeking action against 17 structures.
On January 16 last year, it asked Rajuk to act against three residential buildings in North Kafrul for violating Tejgaon Airport’s funnel zone, the airspace required for planes to safely land and take-off.
One 20-foot-tall building stands inside the obstruction-free zone, where no construction is permitted, while two 55-foot-tall buildings exceed their allowable heights by 49 feet and 44 feet.
The letter said the buildings were within Runway-17’s approach path and obstruction-free zone and that construction without CAAB and Rajuk clearance was disrupting aircraft take-offs and landings.
On April 18, 2025, CAAB sought action against a hotel for exceeding the height limit for the Tejgaon airport by 50 feet. It followed up on May 1 with another letter saying another hotel near HSIA exceeded the limit by 30 feet.
On May 21 that year, CAAB asked Rajuk to act against six residential buildings in Baunia, Uttara, for violating HSIA’s funnel zone. The three measured 47, 68 and 87 feet tall, even though they should have been below 18 feet.
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Cadets stand in silence before a memorial display bearing photographs of the victims at Milestone School and College in Uttara yesterday, marking one year since a Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into the institution’s Haider Ali Building, killing 36 people, including schoolchildren. Prayer services and a memorial meeting were organised in remembrance of those who lost their lives. PHOTO: PALASH KHAN
Another letter, dated June 3, 2025, identified six more residential buildings in Uttara-12. Three stood between 70 and 80 feet despite height limits of only 17 to 19 feet.
Rajuk Chief Town Planner Md Ashraful Islam denied approving any building in violation of height restrictions, saying every approved plan had obtained the required no-objection certificate from CAAB and complied with the applicable regulations at the time.
“The problem arose when developers added extra floors beyond the approved plans,” he said. He cited several neighbourhoods as examples where Rajuk approved buildings up to 45 feet high, as per CAAB limits, but owners later constructed more floors.
He, however, acknowledged that Rajuk’s supervision and enforcement may have been inadequate.
Despite the CAAB warnings and the tragedy last year, the situation on the ground remains largely unchanged.
Air Commodore Nur-e-Alam said the aviation regulator had not received any updates about what action Rajuk had taken against the buildings flagged by CAAB.
Without updates, CAAB struggles to maintain an up-to-date database of obstacles that pilots must take into account during flights, he said.
Rajuk’s Ashraful said Rajuk and CAAB are discussing a joint survey to identify all buildings that violate current height restrictions.
The survey, which may take up to two months, will be followed by government decisions on enforcement. Any unauthorised portions found to be illegal and pose safety risks will be removed through mobile court drives, he said.
RESTRICTIONS
Buildings within airport obstacle limitation zones must obtain a height clearance from CAAB.
According to CAAB’s zoning map for HSIA, the most sensitive areas are the funnel zones along the flight path, where building heights are supposed to be strictly regulated.
The funnel zones consist of a red zone, an inner approach area, and an outer approach area.
No construction is allowed in the red zone.
Beyond it lies the inner approach area, where the permissible building height increases by one foot for every 50 feet from the runway. Buildings can reach a maximum height of 150 feet (about 10 to 13 storeys) only if they are more than 2.5 kilometres away.
On the northern side of HSIA, the inner approach area begins from Jashimuddin Road and covers almost all of Uttara-14 and -12, Priyanka City, Sonargaon Janapath Road, Rupayan City Uttara, and extends to Turag.
On the southern side, it starts from Jamtola and covers Nikunja, Joarshahara, Bashundhara Residential Area’s Blocks A, B, C and D before extending to Bhatara and Solmaid.
Beyond the inner approach area lies the outer approach zone, where buildings may rise up to 500 feet depending on their distance from the runway.
