The Palaly airport will begin regional flight operations to India after a soft opening ceremony on October 15, a spokesman for the Prime Minister's office told Times Online.
A discussion was held at Temple Trees today (Aug 26) between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Civil Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga and other officials on the progress of the construction at the airport.
The Minister had said that more than 30 percent of construction activities had been completed with electricity and water supply connections yet to be obtained.
However, he had cited an issue in obtaining water supply since the National Water Supply and Drainage Board's source is located more than a kilometre away from the airport, the spokesman said.
Accordingly, the Prime Minister had suggested that sea water could be used after being purified through a desalinisation plant with the assistance of the Navy to resolve this issue.
Mr. Ranatunga had stated that measures are being taken to set-up customs, immigration, and quarantine offices in the airport as well.
The domestic airport is being upgraded at a cost of Rs 2.2 billion into an international airport in two phases with the first phase expected to see flights operating to major cities in India.
The Department of National Zoological Gardens is readying enclosures to quarantine two large tortoises that were found stranded 15 kilometers westwards off Pitipana Negombo, today.
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