Sri Lanka to hold key security units in airport deal with India-Russia consortium

Sri Lanka
By Editor_1
Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport -EN/File
By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO – Sri Lanka will hold key units related to national security and rescue when handing over its Chinese-built airport operations to a consortium comprising Indian and Russian firms, a top government official said.

Sri Lanka is in the process of handing over the $209 million Chinese-funded airport to a consortium comprising Shaurya Aeronautics Pvt Ltd of India and Airports of Regions Management Company of Russia, which won the contract to manage Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport for 30 years.

The airport, once dubbed the “world’s emptiest airport” because of a lack of flights, incurred a loss of 3 billion rupees (US$ 10 million) annually since it was inaugurated in  2013 by former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, who borrowed heavily for post-war infrastructure in his second tenure of 2010-2015.

The Indian-Russian consortium was chosen despite the United States having informed the Sri Lankan government about a US sanction on the key stakeholder of the Moscow firm.

“We are waiting to clear some technical matters. We will be handing over the airport very soon,” Athula Kalgetiya, Chairman of state-owned Airport & Aviation Services Sri Lanka Private Ltd told reporters on Monday (29).

He said the deal will see all the cost of the airport borne by the consortium and the Sri Lankan government will not charge any money for the first three years. The consortium is expected to develop the airport up to 400,000 passengers (per year) in the fourth year.

“After three years, we will be getting a revenue share – both non-aeronautical and aeronautical revenue shares – which are as spelt in the proposal and they will be handling the airport for 30 years,” Kalgetiya said, explaining that they have some precautions in place that include a large performance bond, a performance guarantee that can be utilized if the consortium fails.

Kalgetiya also said that all employees except those working for the Air Navigation Services, Fire (Services), Security (Services), and Search and Rescue units, will come under the consortium. The four units will be directly under the Airport and Aviation Services, he said, explaining that the four areas were vital for the Sri Lanka government and the aviation industry.

Kalgetiya also said the consortium will be reimbursing the Airport and Aviation Services even for that cost. “So we will not have any cost from the day we hand over the airport and we will stop leaking 3 billion (loss) every year to Mattala.”

Deeming the deal a very good model he said, that after 30 years the consortium will have to hand over the airport, developed and as it is to Sri Lanka.

Officials from the United States have cautioned the Sri Lankan government that the key stakeholder of Russia’s Airports of Regions Management Company is sanctioned by the US treasury in 2018 for suspected meddling in the 2016 US elections.

Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has rejected the claim and said the government did due diligence and “it is only a rumour”.

Government officials have said a top official at the US Embassy also advised against the Russian firm.

The airport is strategically located close to the Hambantota port on the southern coast of Sri Lanka where China operates a port on a 99-year lease and Sinopec is building a US$5 billion refinery.

It has been used sparingly and only when flights are unable to land in the country’s main airport at Katunayaka, 30 km north of Colombo.

Airports of the Regions, the Russian firm in the joint consortium, is a large airport holding in Russia.

Until 2021, the strategic investor of the company was the Renova Group of Companies, owned by Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg, a Ukrainian born Russian who was sanctioned by the US treasury in 2018 for suspected meddling in the 2016 US elections.

In 2021, however, Vekselberg transferred control over the management company ‘Airports of the Regions’ to a former top manager of Renova, according to media reports.

Sri Lanka used Mattala Airport to attract more Russian and Ukrainian tourists soon after the COVID-19 lockdown.

Under the previous government, the airport was offered to India with an aim of boosting Indian cultural tourists into Sri Lanka. However, the discussion with India about operating the airport did not succeed.

-ecnomynext.com

 

Editor_1
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