Indian Airports Authority to take over Mattala Airport
In a move seen as offsetting China’s mounting presence in Sri Lanka, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is set to take over a controlling stake of 70 per cent in Mattala International Airport in a joint venture partnership with the Sri Lankan government, official sources confirmed.
This will be the first time the AAI will take over an international airport outside India where it is handling 125 airports including 18 international airports, seven customs airports, 78 domestic airports and 26 civil enclaves at military airfields.
A senior official of the Transport and Civil Aviation Ministry told the Business Times that 70 per cent of the estimated value of US$ 325 million will be invested by the Indian authority while the balance 30 per cent comes from Sri Lanka’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
This public private partnership also involving an Indian company will enter into a 40 year lease agreement with the CAA to take up the management control of the Mattala Airport, he said.
According to Deputy Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Ashok Abeysinghe, this agreement will be presented before the cabinet for its approval and thereafter it will be presented in Parliament for ratification.
The airport has the capacity to handle one million passengers a year and is expected to handle five million passengers, 50,000 tonnes of cargo and 6,250 air traffic operations per annum by 2028.
The government in 2017 invited prospective investors to transform the loss making airport into a profit-sharing joint venture, Mr.Abeysinghe said .
However no proposals were received to operate, manage and maintain the airport, he added.
Aviation officials of India and Sri Lanka held several rounds of discussions and an agreement reached on a lease agreement relating to management control of the airport by the Indian party, he revealed.
However Sri Lanka would control aircraft movement and the use of air space in accordance with the agreement.
After the revival of the airport, it is expected to generate revenue of Rs.1.7 billion per month for 15 years, he said expressing the belief that the airport could be made economically viable following the Indo-Lanka partnership.
| Rs.1.5 bn Ratmalana airport master plan to upgrade navigation facility | |
| By Sunimalee Dias The Colombo airport at Ratmalana will be upgrading its air navigation facility at a total cost of Rs.150 million out of a Rs.1.5 billion master plan, in a bid to meet international requirements as it will be catering to a growing demand of corporate jets and domestic aircraft. In line with the implementation of the master plan for the Ratmalana Airport there will be an air navigation upgrade to its facility at a total cost of Rs.1.4 billion of which Rs. 625 million will be provided by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the balance from the Airport and Aviation Services Ltd, the Ratmalana Airport Manager Aruna Rajapaksa told the Business Times. He noted that the present equipment was not sufficient to meet international requirements and as a result a differential GPS system would be established. Mr. Rajapaksa explained that in catering to aircraft carrying over 30 passengers and for training facilities this new upgrade would be imperative to train the operators on an advanced systems of air navigation. With plans to establish the facility by mid next year, the Ratmalana Airport will be looking at starting work on the procurement process. In the meantime, it was noted that the airport would be training its air traffic controllers to operate these systems through international training programmes and locally rated instructors as well. Meanwhile, the CAA would be allocating Rs.625 million to construct three hangars, an administrative complex, an apron and taxiway and terminal for the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) to be constructed on the Northern side of the runway. The existing hangars will be used for domestic and international corporate jet expansion to accommodate those flights entering the airport from Maldives and South India like Trichy, Trivandrum and Chennai.
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