Second int'l airport opens in Mattala in March

Chaminda Perera

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the second international airport in Mattala would be opened in March next year.

Speaking at the centenary celebration of the civil aviation sector at Temple Trees, President Mahinda Rajapaska said Sri Lankans need not worry about the development achieved by many countries in Asia and Europe, if our rulers thought of a second airport several decades back.

He said the government initiated the construction of country's second airport 50 years after the establishment of its only international airport, the Bandaraniake International Airport which was brought under the government's control in 1957.

He said plans are afoot to develop the BIA as South Asia's premier airport. The President said the BIA was first developed by former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike's Government with Canadian help.