Sri Lanka evaluating 19 proposals for loss-making Mattala Airport
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka is currently evaluating 19 proposals to operationalize the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA), with a Request for Proposals (RFP) expected to be issued within the next two months, Deputy Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku said.
“We have received 19 proposals. So, it’s being evaluated right now. I think within the next one to two months, we’ll be able to float an RFP once the qualified bidders are selected,” Kodithuwakku said.
The fresh push to commercialize the state-owned facility comes after a previous attempt to manage the airport failed.
The government had earlier entered into a management agreement with an Indian and Russian joint venture to operationalize the facility under a 30-year lease.
The deal aimed to convert the facility into a profitable entity through transit flights and specialized cargo operations, but was later cancelled after both firms were blacklisted by the US State Department.
Inaugurated in March 2013 as Sri Lanka’s second international gateway, the airport was constructed with an investment of approximately 209 million US dollars, largely funded by loans from the Export-Import Bank of China.
Designed to handle one million passengers annually and featuring a 3,500-metre runway capable of accommodating large aircraft such as the Airbus A380, the facility was envisioned as a regional catalyst to support a tourism surge in the Southern Province, a logistics hub, and a sea-air transhipment link with the nearby Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port, which is leased to China under a 99-year tenure.
Despite its high-tech infrastructure, the facility has consistently incurred financial losses, earning the moniker of the world’s emptiest international airport.
-economynext.com
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