President kicks off construction of domestic airport at Batti

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday launched the project to construct a domestic airport in Batticaloa, the main Eastern Province town.

The President laid the foundation stone Monday for the construction of the passenger terminal building and runway of the Batticaloa airport.

The cost for the construction of 1700- meter long tarmac, access and flight landing areas has been estimated at Rs.800 million.

Sri Lanka Air Force is entrusted with the construction of passenger terminal with an estimated cost of Rs.20 million.

Domestic airport projects are launched to develop and facilitate the tourism industry and urgent movements.

Under the domestic airport projects, the Sir Lankan government plans to set up eight domestic airports in the country in Koggala, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Sigiriya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Ampara, and Palaviya.

Ministers A. H. M. Fowzie, Priyankara Jayaratne, C. B. Ratnayake and Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan also participated in the event.