A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Sri Lanka Hopes India Will Buy Into Airport Without Planes. China Refused
Sri Lanka first tried to offer China the Mattala Rajapaksa Airport in the southern district of Hambantota but now but is now in talks with India.
The airport deal could take the shape of a 40-year joint venture with 70 percent stake for India
Sri Lanka has already sold China a port that gets almost no ships. The
island nation now wants India to take control of an airport with no
scheduled flights.
The nation first tried to offer China the Mattala Rajapaksa
International Airport in the southern district of Hambantota, but is now
in talks with India, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Sri
Lanka's parliament on Thursday. The move follows the $1.1 billion sale
of the loss-making port in Hambantota to state-owned China Merchants
Group.
The efforts are part of Sri Lanka's attempt to salvage loss-making
projects built under a previous administration criticized for its close
ties with China. Hambantota's port was a "white elephant" that
accumulated nearly $300 million in losses since 2011, Wickremesinghe
told parliament. But the port's sale to China was a "great victory" for
Sri Lanka, he said, and getting Indian involved in the airport could
help revive that asset too, he added.
"Just like the port without ships, there is also an airport without
planes in Mattala," Wickremesinghe told lawmakers. "We spoke first to
the Chinese about the Mattala airport, but we did not get a favorable
response. So we are in discussions with India. In the future, I believe
Mattala will also be an airport free of debt that will attract flights."
Joint Venture
India and Sri Lanka held talks this week to discuss a joint venture
agreement for the airport with Indian officials, the country's deputy
transport minister Ashok Abeysinghe told parliament this week, according
to Sri Lanka's EconomyNext news service.
The airport deal could take the shape of a 40-year joint venture in
which India takes a 70 percent stake in Mattala airport, according to
the Daily FT, a daily financial newspaper in Sri Lanka.
Spokesmen for India's civil aviation and foreign ministries could not be
reached, while spokesman J.B. Singh of the Airports Authority of India
said he could not comment.
China Concerns
Both projects were built in an era when former President Mahinda
Rajapaksa was taking billions of dollars in Chinese loans to build
infrastructure projects in Hambantota, where his constituency is
located. By the time Rajapaksa was ousted from power in 2015, more than
90 percent of Sri Lanka's total government revenue was going toward debt
payments.
China's investments have also prompted worries in New Delhi, Washington
and Tokyo about the growing spread of President Xi Jinping's $500
billion Belt and Road infrastructure initative.
The airport in Mattala was infamous for having just one scheduled daily
flight. But that flight, operated by FlyDubai, was canceled from June 8,
the company said in an emailed statement.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)