• Process to conclude by around August 

Sri Lanka has completed the technical evaluations for the proposed Terminal 2 at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and handed them over to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with the process expected to conclude by around August this year, according to the Ministry of Ports and Civil Aviation.  

When contacted by The Sunday Morning, Deputy Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Janitha Ruwan Kodithuwakku stated that after the current Government had assumed office, discussions with JICA had been conducted and tenders had been called for the project with two Japanese contractors having submitted bids.

“We have completed the technical evaluations and handed them over to JICA. The process is ongoing and should be finished by the middle of this year, around August,” he said.

Initially, the contract for the BIA Terminal 2 project – valued at $ 564 million – was awarded to the Taisei Corporation in 2020. However, after construction work had been suspended due to a freeze in funding imposed by JICA following the nation’s default, the corporation terminated its contract with Sri Lanka.

The contract involved the construction of a multi-level terminal as a part of Package A of the BIA expansion project. Package A was initially estimated to cost Rs. 133 billion. 

With regard to Package A, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Ltd. (AASL) entered into two agreements with JICA. The first agreement was entered into in March 2012 for ¥ 29 billion and the second was entered into in March 2016 for ¥ 45.4 billion.

The Deputy Minister explained that the funding had been completely suspended after the country defaulted. He continued: “It was only after we took over that we restarted discussions to obtain these loans again. We had to call for tenders and re-prepare the specifications.”

Once the tender process is complete, the construction of Terminal 2 is expected to take about 30 months to finish.