Sri Lankan government to invest funds from tourism development fund to develop northern airport
The government of Sri Lanka is reportedly looking at investing monies from a tourism development fund to develop the Palaly airport in the country’s Northern Province to handle civilian traffic in the region.
Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry has stated that the Cabinet of Ministers has granted approval to use the northern part of the Palaly runway for handling civil aviation.
The state operated Airports and Aviation Services Ltd. (AASL), which manages the Sri Lanka’s civil airports, is to be appointed as the service provider to operate and maintain the Palaly airport and other aeronautical services.
Rs. 1,050 million will be secured from the Tourism Development Fund to develop the airport while Rs. 900 million is to be taken from the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka.
The Finance Ministry has made this announcement in its mid-year fiscal report.
“This new development is expected to enhance the capacity of AASL and thereby increasing its revenue generation,” the report has said.
The government has stated that it wants Palaly to be upgraded to a regional airport and to handle international flights, especially to South Indian cities.
The government’s plan is to eventually upgrade Palaly to handle medium-sized commercial jets like A320 and B737 type aircraft.
OSL take:
The government of Sri Lanka has adopted a policy of developing its domestic airport structure with the aim of further boosting tourism as well as internal trade. The development of the domestic airport network will enable foreign investments to look at setting up businesses in all parts of the island while also increasing the number of destinations tourists could visit within the country. Also, the development of the Palaly airport as a regional airport would help Sri Lanka have quick and easy access to neighbouring India, which in turn would boost bilateral trade. Therefore, foreign businesses/investors could explore business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s programme to boost domestic aviation sector as well as in regional tourism development.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/03072019/Z_1 |