Tourism Minister orders Airport and Aviation Services to assess damage caused to MIA

Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga yesterday instructed the officials of the Mattala International Airport and Airport and Aviation Services to assess the damage caused by storing paddy at the former by the previous administration and provide a report within a week.

Ranatunga instructed officials at a meeting at the ministry where the future of the Mattala International Airport was discussed.

Earlier unions had informed the Minister that the Airport and Aviation Services officials had not conducted a proper assessment of the damage caused by storing paddy in 2015. Airport and Aviation Services too had admitted that a proper assessment had to be carried out, the Minister said.

Last year, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating corruption in the yahapalana administration found that storing of paddy inside the buildings had caused damage estimated to be around Rs. 5 million. It was also found that the Paddy Marketing Board had paid Airport and Aviation Services Ltd Rs. 835,132 a month for storing the paddy. The paddy was stored for six months.  

Ranatunga said that the previous government wanted to destroy the Mattala Airport and that since November 2019; the current administration has been trying to revitalize the institution.

However, an earlier PCoI on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka, was informed that SriLankan lost USD 14.04 million between 2013 and 2015 as it was compelled to fly to and handle flights at the Mattala Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport. Head of Revenue Management and Planning at SriLankan, Sumudu Upatissa added that the airline had incurred a loss of USD 10.1 million during that period as it had to fly through Mattala. The airline lost another USD 3.94 million for providing various services at the airport.