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Monday, 23 June 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The functioning of the automated fuel hydrant system along with the state of the art aviation terminal facility will become an important milestone in the aviation industry in Sri Lanka in many ways for the economic development, employment generation and regional development in the near future, the Government said.
In addition to the refuelling unit, the facility comprises a high-tech computerised refuelling unit, a fire hydrant system, and fire hazard identification system.
The fully computerised oil storage terminal has the capacity to store 3 million litres of aircraft fuel and the refuelling facility can supply fuel to the world’s largest passenger aircraft such as an Airbus-340 which can take in 310,000 litres of aviation fuel.
The required Jet-A1 fuel will be initially supplied by 33,000 litres capacity Road Tankers from the CPSTL Kolonnawa installation, until the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) aviation storage tank farm at the Hambantota Port facility is ready for operations.
A pipeline corridor from Hambantota Port to MRIA over a length of around 32 kilometres has been allocated by the Road Development Authority for a Jet-A1 fuel transfer pipeline to be constructed in the future, based on the increasing demand for Jet-A1 fuel at MRIA.
Three tanks at the oil storage facility have been leased out to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) for aviation fuel to be supplied to the Mattala International Airport and the other three tanks have been leased out to Litro Gas Company for LP gas storage.
Self-funded
According to the Government, the aviation refuelling facility incorporated in to the overall plan of airport and aviation services in Sri Lanka, and in the design of the Hambantota International Airport (HIA) by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) did not have a fuel hydrant system and the required capacities in the fuel storage tanks and associated facilities, required for an international airport of this nature.
Therefore, the CPC and the Ministry of Petroleum Industries undertook the task of building a state of the art fuel hydrant system and an aviation refuelling terminal with the required storage capacities of Jet A1 fuel in 2010. The total project has cost CPC nearly Rs. 5 billion using its own funding.
Initial design of the fuel farm was only adequate for very small airport and not at all sufficient for an international airport which requires a large storage to maintain an adequate buffer stock for any eventuality, the Government said.
The fuel hydrant system within the apron area was constructed by the main airport contractor China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) for a negotiated price of $ 7,175,326.13 without any variation claims approved.
The construction of the aviation terminal and the interconnecting pipelines of 1.2 kilometres long was assigned to Amana Pipeline Construction LLC of Dubai, UAE on a competitive tender basis with Cabinet approval for $ 31,251,504.02 which has been successfully completed without any extra cost to CPC.
Meanwhile, President Rajapaksa also declared open the oil tank farm and commissioned ship bunkering operations at the Hambantota Port.
The tank farm owned by SLPA consists of 14 tanks and eight of them are used by the SLPA for bunkering. The total bunker capacity is 51,000 cubic metres and the capacity for aviation fuel and LP gas are 23,000 and 6,000 cubic metres respectively.
The SLPA has invested $ 76 million in constructing the tank farm and bunkering infrastructure that includes offshore bunkering facilities.
Ministers Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Sarath Kumara Gunaratna, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Priyankara Jayaratne, Deputy Ministers Geethanjana Gunawardena, Sarana Gunawardena, and MP Namal Rajapaksa also participated in the occasion.
