The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), on October 19, tabled its fourth report to parliament which contained the current situation on the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.

News1st takes a closer look…

The Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport was constructed through a loan of USD 190 million, obtained from the
Exim Bank in China.

The airport which has only incurred losses since its construction in 2013, had an operational cost of Rs. 1,147.3 million within the first first months of 2016. In terms of profit during that same period, the airport made just Rs. 21.6 million.

Therefore, the losses incurred just for the first six months of 2016, adds up to Rs. 1,125.7 million.

Considering other expenses, the COPE report says that the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport has incurred a total loss of Rs. 1,546.8 million within the first half of 2016.

This is an average of Rs. 8.4 million in losses a day.When further calculated, Sri Lanka incurs an average loss of Rs. 353,180 and 68 cents every hour, because of the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport.

In the face of the current crisis, seven companies have expressed interest in investing in the loss making airport.

These include:

1. Omega Global with Claymore Hill Advisory and Aviation Resource Group International
2. Sakurai Aviation TLD
3. Care Aviation Ltd
4. VINCI Airport
5. Diesel and Motor Engineering PLC
6. Sierra Networks (Pvt) Ltd
7. Madelon