The construction of the first phase of the Bandaranaike International Airport's Export Terminal 2 commenced today taking forward the airport development projects. Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunge stated at the occasion, “During the course of one or two years, when we have moved past the present pandemic, we will need to cater to the large amount of tourists arriving to Sri Lanka. We have now initiated the first phase to construct the second Export Terminal, which will help us achieve that goal and develop tourism in our country.” State Minister of Aviation and Export Zones Development D. V. Chanaka stated, “The time allocated to pass through the Terminal has been reduced from three hours to one and a half hours at the Terminal 2, with the use of One-stop shops and scanners on both sides. The collective effort of the Airport and Aviation Services and the Civil Aviation authorities has been put into this project. This is expected to generate a revenue of Rs. 360 million for the Airport.” It was further stated that an agreement has been reached with the relevant construction company to complete the project within 730 days. The Sri Lanka Airports and Aviation Authority stated that with the completion of this building, a number of requirements in the export and import sector will be met.