Colombo Airport tender rocked by Sojitz scandal
The delayed Colombo Airport phase 11 Expansion project is now embroiled in an international bidder disqualification issue in the latest tender to award Sri Lanka’s largest-ever construction contract which officially closed on March 25, 2025.
As the nation anxiously watches the progress of the Colombo Airport Expansion Tender, two newly unearthed and deeply troubling facts have surfaced about one of the key bidders: the Sojitz-L and T consortium, airport and aviation industry experts disclosed.
In a shocking revelation, Sojitz Corporation of Japan has been technically disqualified from a recent international airport bid in Egypt, international reports highlighted recently.
The client, Egyptian Airports Company, operating under the Egyptian Ministry of Aviation, disqualified Sojitz from participating in the Borg El Arab International Airport Extension Project – Phase 2, Lot 1 in Alexandria.
This disqualification sends a chilling signal: Sojitz is not considered fit to undertake major airport projects – not just by one client, but by a sovereign aviation authority in a country with global aviation credibility.
This latest incident raises serious red flags about Sojitz’s eligibility and capability to handle the Colombo Airport Project, a project far more complex and critical.
More alarmingly, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Sojitz is riding on the credentials of their Indian partner, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), to remain in the race. But this manoeuver raises more questions than answers—because L&T themselves are no strangers to controversy, with a trail of allegations and failed projects marring their past, several leading construction company heads who wished remain anonymous told the Sunday Times Business.
The growing accusation is that this consortium is manipulating the process, and that what should have been a fair and transparent tender is at risk of turning into a managed deal.
With such entities potentially steering the outcome of a project of national importance, Sri Lanka is teetering on the brink of a grave misjudgment, they pointed out.
The second explosive fact that has come to light is that Sojitz has previously dragged the Government of Sri Lanka into international arbitration—a fact they have completely omitted from their Colombo Airport tender submission, despite strict guidelines mandating full disclosure of past litigations and legal disputes.
In this case, Sojitz has filed a claim exceeding US$ 30 million against the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) in a Singapore-based arbitration, over what insiders have termed “false and baseless allegations,” official sources confirmed. This deliberate omission alone could and should disqualify their bid.
The airport project, has attracted just two bidders: Taisei Corporation and the Sojitz-L&T consortium in which L & T is the prime contractor because Sojitz does not have airport construction experience.
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