Does Sri Lanka really need another international airport? At least in the short-term? Yesterday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe declared that Rs. 2 billion will be allocated for 2024 for the preliminary work of the construction of the Hingurakgoda International Airport. Given the performance delivered by the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) and Jaffna International Airport (JIA), formally known as the Palaly, it is clear that Sri Lanka needs to rethink the urgency of another international airport.
If Budget 2024 is to lay the groundwork for Sri Lanka’s future and is not an “election budget” as Wickremesinghe claims, why is it that we are initiating what can become another “white elephant” infrastructure project such as the proposed international airport so soon? What is the rush? Is there an adequate boom in tourism in the Eastern coast, or are the other vital infrastructure and regulations in place for the North Central Province and the Eastern Province to “take off” on Tourism within the next few years – which the public is unaware of?
The National Audit Office (NAO), in a recent report revealed the total loss incurred by the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) between 2017 and 2022 amounts to approximately Rs. 42.81 billion. Meanwhile, even though a rough estimate of one million passengers were expected at the Airport annually, the NAO report revealed that only a total of 11,577 passengers had travelled through the Airport last year, while only 103,324 passengers had travelled via MRIA between 2017 and 2022. The report indicated that the Airport’s operating costs for the year 2022 amounted to Rs. 2.03 billion, which is 26 times higher than its income. Meanwhile, MRIA had incurred a loss to the tune of Rs. 22.21 billion last year. The same NAO reports also revealed that the Batticaloa International Airport, which was opened in March 2018, has totalled an operating cost of Rs. 86 million over the past five years. However, it has failed to generate any income.
Sri Lanka’s aviation and maritime infrastructure does need investment, that is a known fact. The recent investments into the Colombo Port infrastructure will go a long way to revive the critical infrastructure projects, many of which have been stagnant for years. However, Sri Lanka needs to prioritise and plan its trajectory. Ad hoc decisions like seeking to develop a new international airport would not fit the austerity focus which the Government has.
There are plenty of other priorities for the Government to focus on. Food and energy security would be two key areas which the Government needs to focus on. Sri Lanka desperately needs cheaper energy sources, and better food security. The entire economy and the socio-political stability of the country is dependent on such matters, with unemployment and cost of living being the others. The “aragalaya” movement showed clearly what the priority areas are. And soaring utility bills and cost of living will not ensure that today’s stability remains unaffected tomorrow.
It is learnt that MRIA only services around six international flights per week, while Jaffna only caters to two or three per week. As such, one has to ask the question, why is Sri Lanka in a hurry to build another “international” airport in Hingurakgoda? Is this a move to please the voter base of a future political ally? Or has a regional or extra regional geopolitical player promised to fund the concept of Hingurakgoda International Airport as means to secure influence, or gain access to the eastern coast of Sri Lanka? Let’s hope that by the time we get to know the reason? Hoping that it’s not too late.