Govt. calls for fresh duty free tenders at BIA

By Uditha Jayasinghe 

Cabinet has approved calling of fresh tenders for the duty free section of the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and obtaining funds from Japan to build a new passenger terminal. 

Sri Lanka in 2013 signed a Rs. 42.5 billion loan agreement with Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) to finance the expansion of BIA that would increase the number of passengers handled by the main international airport. 

Under the Development Project Phase II Stage 2 work will be carried out to expand the terminal building, aircraft parking apron, and public utilities. Cabinet on Wednesday renewed the decision to obtain funding from the Japanese Government.  

In September 2015 former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe inaugurated the second phase of the expansion during a State visit just three months ahead of the presidential election that saw the defeat of Rajapaksa. 

Cabinet also approved new tenders to set up duty free shops at the airport.    

“Currently only two companies are operating duty free shops in the airport and neither were selected through a competitive bidding process. Therefore the Cabinet  decided initiate a new floating tender and give out five year contracts in a manner that would be more beneficial for the airport administration,” Cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne told reporters. 

The new bids will be evaluated by a Cabinet appointed procurement committee and technical evaluation committee.  The Cabinet paper was filed by Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.