MRIA, A bold step forward!

Shirajiv Sirimane

The opening of the second international airport fills a huge void in the country. Sri Lanka after obtaining permanent peace is now seeing an upsurge in tourism and the country is now targeting the arrival of over 2.5 million tourists by 2016. With the addition of MRIA Sri Lanka can now expect an additional one million tourists for 2013.

In an interview with the Daily News Minister of Civil Aviation Priyankara Jayaratne said that he feels honored to be the Minister in charge of Civil Aviation at a time when the South Asian aviation history is being re written with the opening of the Mattala Rajapaksa International airport (MRIA).

Some have raised questions as to why Hambantota was selected to build the second international airport.

“One of the main reasons is the demand from the nation’s leisure sector. They would love to start their tour by visiting wild life parks (Yala), enjoy the sunny beaches in the Eastern province, cool themselves in the hill country, see the historic city of Kandy, followed by the cultural triangle and return via the Elephant orphanage in Pinnawela and shop, enjoy entertainment in Colombo and depart from Colombo.”

The Mattala airport will also support the International cricket stadium, convention centre, harbour and most importantly the emerging economy zone and the International IT Park. MIRA will also be the only available air strip that could land the world’s biggest aircraft, A380.

“We have observed that there are over 100 Aircraft that fly over Sri Lanka and our aim is to get some of these to land in Sri Lanka. Already several international airlines would be flying to MRIA and they would refuel and obtain supplies from Sri Lanka giving the country additional revenue.”

The SriLankan Airlines has joined with the Lufthansa Airlines to make the Airport a maintenance centre. There are also several other plans to popularize the airport.

The agriculture industry too would benefit immensely since the farmers can do direct exporting thus eliminating the middleman.

President has also allocated Rs. 700 million from the budget for the development of Aviation sector of the country. “According to that ten airports are being developed in batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara and Nuwara Eliya.”

People in the country should thank President Mahinda Rajapaksa for taking the bold step in going head and constructing this well planned and green airport.

I also take this opportunity to thank the Chinese government and all others who toiled to make this airport a reality.