Airport and Aviation calls for bids for Palaly Airport modification

Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (AASL) has called bids from local companies for an estimated Rs 303mn expansion and modification to the passenger terminal building at the Jaffna International Airport (JIA) in Palaly.

However, the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA)-funded expansion of the Bandaranaike International Airport – now urgent due to heavy overcrowding during peak hours – is seriously lagging. The two offers received are still under technical evaluation.

The bid closing date for the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) Development Project was March this year, but the tender was advertised as early as mid-last year. The financial bids can only be opened once JICA concurs with the results of the technical evaluation.

Industry sources said officials are exercising “an overabundance of caution” after the Committee on Public Enterprises denounced the manner in which the project was executed in the past.

Meanwhile, a pre-bid meeting for the Palaly tender is scheduled for next week, with closing the date for tender submission listed as September 10. Bidding is to be conducted through the national competitive bidding procedure (NCB).

The work includes expanding and modifying the arrival area of the passenger terminal. Construction must be finished in six months. The project will be financed with AASL funds.

Bidders must have an average annual construction work volume of at least Rs 1bn over the last five years and liquid assets or credit facilities of not less than Rs 167mn.

Read more at today's Sunday Times here