Japan has confirmed that construction of the second passenger terminal at Bandaranaike International Airport will begin before November this year, the Ministry of Ports, Civil Aviation and Energy said.
The confirmation was given at a meeting on Friday morning between Minister Anura Karunathilaka and a Japan International Cooperation Agency delegation led by JICA Senior Vice President Shohei Hara and JICA Sri Lanka Chief Representative Shigeo Honzu, Daily Mirror reported.
The Ministry said the Japanese government agreed to restart the project following discussions held by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake with Tokyo, after which several further rounds of talks took place between the Minister, the Japanese Ambassador and JICA officials.
Loan and contractor steps completed
According to the Ministry statement, a decision has been taken to provide the additional loan facility the project requires, and the associated administrative work has now been completed. Discussions with the construction company selected under the tender process are in their final stages.
Karunathilaka said the government needed to accelerate the Terminal 2 project as part of efforts to create a more favourable environment for tourists and investors.
The timetable brings the restart marginally forward from the position set out in June, when the Ministry said work would resume in November and be completed within 30 months. Construction began in December 2020 under a 75-billion-yen Japanese loan but was suspended in April 2022 as the foreign exchange crisis forced Sri Lanka to halt major capital projects.
Colombo port traffic system also discussed
The two sides also discussed Japanese support for establishing a Vessel Traffic Management System to handle rising ship movements at the Port of Colombo. It was decided that the request would be submitted through the Department of External Resources.
Hara’s visit this week covered a wider programme. Daily FT reported that he met Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and Treasury Secretary Harshana Suriyapperuma on 11 August alongside senior Finance Ministry officials, conveyed JICA’s condolences over Cyclone Ditwah, and met UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN Global Compact chief executive Sanda Ojiambo. His itinerary also included JICA volunteer sites in Kurunegala and Kandy, Ditwah-affected areas, the Anuradhapura North Water Supply Project, the Sigiriya Museum and the Doppler Weather Radar Project in Puttalam.
