ED: Flying into the future

For any nation, the sustainability of its development, to a great extent, relies on the quality of its infrastructure, be it with regard to creating an environment conducive to foreign investment or making way for tourists so that they may experience the natural beauty the country is home to.

In this regard, the runway expansion of Cox’s Bazar Airport, which the prime minister inaugurated on Sunday, is a great first step towards turning Cox’s Bazar into the international destination it always had the potential to be.

The project, which was approved by the government in 2018, will allow Cox’s Bazar Airport to welcome international flights, and it is indeed a tragedy that one of Bangladesh’s most prominent tourist destinations and home to the longest sea beach in the world has been closed off to international travel for so long.

The fact that Cox’s Bazar Airport has remained open only to domestic flights for so long becomes even more surprising when one considers its proximity to the Rohingya refugee camps, visited by a plethora of journalists and NGOs from all across the world.

We hope that the extension of the runway, which will pave the way for the airport to allow larger international carriers to take off and land, is the first among many such infrastructural improvements made to Cox’s Bazar, and create an environment which allows it to flourish as an international destination, be it for tourism or work.

Not only that, investment in infrastructure across the nation is essential towards improving Bangladesh’s standing as a nation on the global stage, and will create conditions conducive for the economy to grow more efficiently and improve its ranking in the Ease of Doing Business Index.

Bangladesh must aim to become a hassle-free nation for its citizens and foreign visitors alike if it wishes to go beyond middle-income status in the future.