Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. (AASL) plans to resume construction of certain selected tasks of the suspended Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) Terminal II project this week.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, AASL Chairman Maj. Gen. (Retd) G.A. Chandrasiri revealed that the AASL would initiate construction activities this week for specific selected tasks of the BIA Terminal II project.
The construction work to be undertaken by the AASL will primarily pertain to the maintenance of certain areas where construction was abruptly halted by the previous contractor – Taisei Corporation.
“We will commence construction in certain areas to make sure that they are properly maintained for the future when the new contractor begins construction. We will complete those areas at a company level. This will set the stage for the commencement of construction work for the project. For example, there are certain areas that need to be filled with regard to the two new piers,” he stated.
He stated that the AASL would bear an estimated cost of approximately Rs. 500 million to carry out the necessary construction work in order to maintain the Terminal II project until a new contractor was appointed and construction activities at the project site resumed properly.
Chandrasiri also disclosed that the construction work in relation to the selected tasks was anticipated to span approximately six months. By the end of this period, it is expected that a new contractor will have been appointed, fully prepared to assume responsibility for the project site and recommence the construction work.
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 awarded to the Taisei Corporation in 2020.
According to the terms of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funding, the contractor must be Japanese. However, with the stoppage of construction work last year 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 is estimated to cost Rs. 133 billion and will be largely funded by the Special Term for Economic Partnership (STEP) concessionary Official Development Assistant (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 is being funded by the AASL.
With regard to Package A, the 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.