The Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (CAAB) is owed Tk 1223 crore by four private airlines.
Out of these four airlines, three are currently closed. The amount the three closed airlines owe is over Tk 1192 crore.
This information was divulged in the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism on Sunday (September 17, 2023) held at the Sangsad Bhaban.
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The Parliamentary Committee on Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism wanted to know how much money CAAB owes or is owed in their dealings with domestic private airlines companies.
CAAB gave a report in this regard in the parliamentary standing committee meeting today with its chairman RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury in the chair.
According to the sources, CAAB in its report said that it is owed a total of Tk 1,222.98 crore by Regent Airways, Novo Air, United Airways and GMG Airlines. Among them, only Novo Air still flies.
As of last May, two other private airlines, US Bangla and Air Astra, both of which are still in business, have no debt.
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CAAB is owed more than Tk 408 crore by Regent Airways, while GMG Airlines owes more than Tk 396 crore.
CAAB is owed Tk 388.97 crore by United Airways and from Novo Air it is owed Tk 29.48crore.
After the meeting, a press release of the Parliament Secretariat informed that the parliamentary committee has recommended taking necessary measures to collect the money owed by the private airlines.
Meanwhile, the report of the sub-committee on the investigation of the Hotel Intercontinental renovation project which was presented in the previous meeting of the committee was in the discussion list of today’s meeting.
The report claimed that it was not needed to spend exorbitantly on the renovation works.
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Government money has been unnecessarily spent for the benefit of certain people, the report said.
According to the report, the rooms of 26 square meters has been increased to 40 square meters. As a result, the number of rooms was reduced to 226 from 272. The report claims that this was not necessary.
Apart from this, the committee recommended to widen the road from Cox's Bazar airport to the city on an urgent basis and improve its beauty, maintain the cleanliness of the beach and implement the activities with mutual coordination.
The committee members Mosharraf Hossain, Ashek Ullah, Syeda Rubina Akhtar, Kaniz Fatema Ahmed were present in the meeting.