- Construction expected to commence by Oct.
- In the final stages of evaluating bids
- Process proceeding per schedule
The Ministry of Ports and Civil Aviation has confirmed that the appointment of a main contractor for the long-stalled Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) Terminal II project remains on track, with construction expected to commence by October.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Deputy Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku said that authorities were currently in the final stages of evaluating bids submitted by two prospective Japanese contractors vying to serve as main contractor for the completion of the landmark infrastructure project.
When pressed on the progress of the bid evaluation process, the Deputy Minister acknowledged that he remained unaware of whether the financial bids had been opened by the Cabinet-appointed evaluation committee, noting that the committee was not disclosing information to external parties at this stage.
He said that the only update received from the committee was that the process was proceeding “per schedule,” and that therefore the project was on course to commence by October.
“The process is still ongoing. I’m not aware of the exact details, since they are not revealing any information right now. They are not providing any information until they have completed their evaluation process,” he stated.
The Deputy Minister further revealed that only the sub-structure of the terminal had been completed to date, representing approximately 30% of the total project. He noted that the incoming contractor would therefore require 30 months from October to bring the project to full completion.
He added that prior to the awarding of the contract, the Government would reach an agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on the gap financing required to cover the project’s increased costs.
The contract for the construction of the BIA Terminal II project, which involves the construction of a multi-level terminal, was valued at $ 564 million and was initially awarded to Taisei Corporation in 2020.
However, following the stoppage of construction work in 2020 due to the funding freeze imposed by JICA following Sri Lanka’s default, Taisei Corporation terminated its contract with Sri Lanka.
The construction of this multi-level terminal is part of Package A of the BIA expansion project, which was initially estimated to cost Rs. 133 billion. It was to be largely funded by the Special Terms for Economic Partnership (STEP) concessionary Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan granted by JICA amounting to Rs. 131.5 billion (¥ 74.4 billion) at a 0.1% interest rate per annum. The remaining Rs. 21.5 billion was to be funded by Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd.
With regard to Package A, AASL entered into two agreements with JICA – the first agreement was entered into in March 2012 for ¥ 29 billion and the second agreement was entered into in March 2016 for ¥ 45.4 billion.