India denies Airports Authority of India proposes to buy controlling stake in Lanka’s Mattala airport
Posted on July 26th, 2018
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
The Ministry’s comments come less than a week after the Sri Lankan Government said that it has asked the AAI to submit its business plan for operating the Mattala airport.
In the Lok Sabha, BJP member Poonam Mahajan asked whether the AAI is considering purchasing a controlling stake in the Mattala airport, thereby gaining ownership of the airport.
No madam. No such proposal is under consideration at present,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply.
To the query on whether the AAI would build a flying school and a maintenance, repair and overhaul unit at the Mattala airport, Sinha replied in the negative.
On July 19, Sri Lanka’s Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva had told the country’s Parliament that the AAI has been asked to submit its business plan for operating the loss-making Mattala airport.
The USD 210 million facility, 241-km south-east of Colombo, is dubbed the world’s emptiest airport”.
The airport was officially opened in March 2013. The only international flight operating from there was halted in May due to recurrent losses and flight safety issues.
The Mattala airport was built with high interest commercial loans from China.
(The featured image at the top shows the Indian Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha)
July 26th, 2018 at 3:22 pm
It is not a good place for an airport that will disturb the wild life but make good use of it by having a massive solar electric farm. They could mount on structures bit above the ground so that small wild creatures could move about beneath panels.
Energy will be a problem in future for all the countries. With electric cars coming out in future we need to produce as much electricity as possible.
We should sell this to a private company in the island where they could raise the money from the stock market and government also could use the ETF money to buy the shares of this company that would give as much as 10% in dividends per year.
There will be inefficacy and corruption in the public sector if this project is state owned. There’s no need to get Chinese or Indians involved.
July 27th, 2018 at 2:22 am
Indian PM already having problems at home and does not want any new ones.