Bandaranaike Airport Expansion Project: Enhancing Sri Lanka’s international gateway
A foreign couple outside the BIA
The Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) is Sri Lanka’s biggest airport and main gateway to the world. BIA acts as a regional and national economic motor, creating the necessary infrastructure for a wide range of economic activities, as access to markets and international transport links are vital for economic development. On the other hand Sri Lanka as an island country will immensely benefit for regional cooperation and social inclusion.
The BIA is one of the busiest cargo and passenger airports in South Asian receiving over 29 airlines serving about 45 destinations worldwide, including 20 in the region. The BIA handled 8.6 million passengers by November 2016 and exceeded its capacity of 6 million passengers per annum (mppa). The BIA experiences congestion during peak hours thus causing hardship to passengers and airliners and the new passenger terminal building is greatly awaited.
History of BIA development:
1930 to 1981
Sri Lanka’s civil aviation industry was born in the 1930’s with the construction of an aerodrome at Ratmalana and it was operational in 1935.
The BIA was first built by the British in the mid 1940’s primarily as air force base and supply centre for aircrafts engaged in World War II.
With assistance from the government of Canada, the airport was developed to handle 150,000 passengers per annum and the operation was started in 1968. The airport was further developed in 1978 under UNDP assistance. In 1981, the Master Plan for the airport was developed with the assistance of the Government of Netherland.
1981 to 2006
The Government of Japan assisted further development of airport with all required facilities for catering annual handling capacity of 3.5 million passengers and was operational since 1988.
The Japanese government extended further cooperation for airport expansion which paved the way for meeting the competition in the aviation sector at that time. The development resulted in a state-of-the-art pier building with eight contact gates and 14 nos. passenger boarding bridges for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka. The project was completed in 2005 by giving enhanced capacity of handling 6 million passengers per annum.
After 2006
After the internal conflict of Sri Lanka, which hindered the growth of the economy for about 30 years, ended in 2009 Sri Lanka’s economy started growing in many facets. Foreign tourist arrivals in 2010 increased nearly by 50 per cent, compared to 2009. Considering the increase of demand, the new Terminal-2 of the airport was designed to cater to another 9 mppa and with that expansion, airport capacity will be increased up to 15 mppa. The Government of Japan through JICA is supporting airport expansion with financing of JPY 74,397 million (approx. Rs. 95 billion).
Expansion programme
The scope of the new project includes construction of a multi-level terminal building with two pier buildings, elevated roadway, construction of a new parking apron with 23 stands, taxiways, multi storey car park, new sewerage treatment plant, solid waste disposal incinerator and a water treatment plant. Total scope has been divided into two contract packages. The proposed new Terminal 2 concept is that arriving and departing passengers are vertically separated in all aspects. Departing passengers are processed on the upper level and the arrival passengers on the lower level.
The new terminal will also provide facilities for operation of new large aircraft A 380 by providing two contact gates with two stories Gangway Bridge
Sustainability is a key focus of the new Terminal 2. Many environmentally friendly initiatives have been incorporated in the design to promote energy efficiency while mitigating adverse environmental effects. The new terminal shall use natural daylight and natural ventilation to minimize energy use. Low E glass has been proposed to limit heat gain and lighting controls to reduce energy use. Sensor operated taps urinals and water saving type sanitary fittings have been proposed to reduce water usage.
Universal design features have been incorporated to assist people with different disabilities.
Impact
With airport expansion, the BIA would create more opportunities for jobs for over 30,000 people directly and indirectly. Moreover the BIA will also influence the regional development while improving the connectivity within the region. Sri Lanka as an island, the airport is the gateway to the country and has paramount importance in the aspects of economic, social and cultural development. It will contribute to the economic development by increasing speed of trade with possible increase in the amount of imports and exports due to faster means of transportation, and supporting the tourism industry. It will also contribute to the social and cultural development by bringing in foreign culture and promote local culture to visitors, create faster enabling environment for more communication with rest of the world, enable more information inflow and outflow, and increase in people’s mobility.
| IESL contribution to development | |
| This is part of a continuing series in the Business Times by the Institution of Engineers of Sri Lanka (IESL) where its members share their thoughts and views on matters of national importance. Mr Rafeek is Head of Projects /AASL, MSc (Engineering), Chartered Civil Engineer while Mr. Hemachandra is Project Specialist, JICA (Chartered Civil Engineer, MBA in Infrastructue, B.Sc. Eng. (Hons), Dip. in Management, Dip. in Commercial Arbitration). |