Prime Minister speaks on Palaly airport development

COLOMBO (News 1st):- Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attended a number of events in the Jaffna district today (August 16). He inspected the Cultural Centre in Jaffna during his visit. A discussion on the development of the Jaffna district chaired by the Prime Minister was held at the Jaffna Divisional Secretariat. A number of MPs from the Tamil National Alliance also attended the discussions. Addressing the people gathered, the Prime Minister said that they always focused on how Palaly could be developed since it takes years. He further said that they are yet to take a decision on the length of the runway but said that all of these decisions have already been made by the Civil Aviation Authority. The Prime Minister said that although they were confronted with an issue of the landfill of the airport that they finally decided to maintain it as a regional airport at this stage. Located approximately 16 km North of the city of Jaffna, the airport was originally built by the British and later served as the country's second international airport. The inaugural flight by Air Ceylon on 10th December 1947 was from Ratmalana Airport to Madras.