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Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga said that 32 airlines around the world are currently flying to Sri Lanka and four new airlines are in talks with Sri Lanka to launch new flights to Sri Lanka.
The Air France Airline and a Middle East airline have agreed to launch flights to Sri Lanka soon and have agreed to launch such flights covering the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport as well as the Mattala International Airport. Meanwhile, Oman Airlines owned Salam Airlines is also in talks with Mattala International Airport to resume flights.
In addition, Cinnamon Airlines has agreed to launch flights covering domestic airports throughout Sri Lanka. Under the new program, steps will be taken to increase the passenger capacity of Sri Lanka's airports by creating positive competition by making Sri Lanka a hub in the aviation industry. It is expected to increase the number of flights in line with the worldwide tourism promotion campaign to revive the island's tourism industry.
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga is confident that with the expansion of aviation with countries around the world, the number of tourists arriving in the island in the near future will exceed one thousand per day.
Minister of Sports, Hon. Namal Rajapaksa and Minister of Tourism, Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga declared open the newly constructed Emigration Office at the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport this morning (15).
The Airport and Aviation Services Company has spent Rs. 430 million to build the new Emigration Office with 23 emigration counters.The first terminal of the airport has been completely renovated under this development project. A dedicated, dual-height and spacious area for departure terminal, installation of new air conditioning system, telephone and dataset, expansion of the existing departure terminal to the private area for VIP, 2 escalators with three additional floors, an elevator, a new staircase and expansion of the passenger’s baggage handling facilities with five checkpoints in the upper floor were implemented under this project.
The new Emigration and Intelligence Office premises have also been constructed with the state-of-the-art facilities.The Airport Infrastructure Development Project, which aims to transform Katunayake Airport into a state-of-the-art airport with best hospitality practices available to provide competitive and safe aviation services, is expected to be completed by 2025, serving 20 million passengers annually.
State Minister of Aviation and Export Zone Development, Hon. D.V. Chanaka, Chairman of the Airports and Aviation Services Company, Mr. G.A. Chandrasiri, Vice President, Mr. Rajiv Sooriyarachchi and others were present at the opening ceremony which held in accordance with health guidelines.
Batticaloa Airport will soon be developed as a fully equipped domestic airport, said Minister of Tourism, Hon.Prasanna Ranatunga.The Minister who visited the airport this morning said that the Batticaloa Airport should be developed as an attractive mode of transport for tourists while developing the Eastern Province as a tourist destination.
The Batticaloa Airport, which was established in 1958 under the Department of Aviation, was assigned to the Air Force in 1983.During the last Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government (2012), the runway of the Batticaloa Airport was upgraded and started functioning as a domestic airport. The Batticaloa airport handled 3980 passengers in the year 2018, 3373 in 2019 and due to the Corona pandemic, it was declined to 723 passengers in 2020.The airport operated 1180 flights in 2018, 864 in 2019 and 174 in 2020.The airport has a 1368 meters long, 30 meters width runway in an area extent of 348 acres. The airport can handle up to 60 passengers with its facilities at present.
Speaking further, Minister of Tourism, Hon.Prasanna Ranatunga said, “We need the Batticaloa Airport in developing the tourism industry in the Eastern Province and therefore the Batticaloa Airport should be developed to suit the tourism industry. Although, the Airport has been gazetted as an international airport for many years, it has not developed to that level. At least the facilities required for domestic flights have not been developed. Over the next two years, the airport will be upgraded with the necessary facilities for domestic flights˜.
He instructed the officials to prepare a suitable plan for this purpose and to list the basic facilities required for operations and to discuss those with the relevant officials and necessary steps will be taken accordingly.
—We are creating an environment where tourists who come to the Eastern Province spend most of their days in the Eastern Province— said the Minister.
Responding to a question asked by a journalist regarding the appointment of Hon.Basil Rajapaksa, the Chief Organizer of the Sri Lanka People's Front, as a Member of Parliament, the Minister said, "The North and East were in the middle of the war at that time, it was Hon.Basil Rajapaksa who developed these provinces through projects such as Uthuru Wasanthaya, Nagenahira Navodaya etc. Nothing like that happened here during the period of good governance. Under our government, the whole country is treated equally. ”
The State Minister of Aviation and Export Zone Development, Hon.D.V. Chanaka, Hon. S. Viyalendran, Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Mr.S. Hettiarachchi and Secretary to the State Ministry of Aviation and Export Zone Development, Mr. Madhava Devasurendra were also present on the occasion.
කටුනායක බණ්ඩාරනායක ගුවන් තොටුපළ සුහුරු (smart) ගුවන් තොටුපළක් ලෙස ඩිජිටල්කරණය කිරීමේ කටයුතු කඩිනම් කිරීම සඳහා ඒකාබද්ධ කමිටුවක් පත්කෙරේ.සංචාරක අමාත්යංශය, ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ අමාත්යාංශය, ගුවන්තොටුපළ සංවර්ධන සහ අපනයන කලාප රාජ්ය අමාත්යාංශයත් ඊට අදාල අනෙකුත් ආයතන වල සාමාජිකයින් ද නියෝජනය වන පරිදි මෙම ඒකාබද්ධ කමිටුවක් පත් කෙරෙන බව සංචාරක අමාත්ය ප්රසන්න රණතුංග මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.ඒ අනුව ලබන ජනවාරි මාසය වන විට කටුනායක බණ්ඩාරනායක ගුවන් තොටුපළ සුහුරු( smart ) ගුවන්තොටුපළක් බවට පත් කිරීමේ නියාමන ව්යාපෘතියක් ආරම්භ කිරීමට නියමිත අතර ක්රියාකාරී සැලැස්මක් මත එම කටයුතු ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙන බව ඊයෙ ගුවන්තොටුපොළ පරිශ්රයේ මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පැවති සාකච්ඡාවක දී අමාත්ය ප්රසන්න රණතංග මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය. මහා බ්රිතාන්ය, එක්සත් අරාබි එමිර් රාජ්යය, සිංගප්පූරුව සහ බාලි දිවයින් වල දැනටමත් සුහුරු ගුවන්තොටුපල ක්රියාත්මක වන අතර ඒ තුළින් ඇතිවන කාර්යක්ෂම තාවය වැඩි සංචාරක ආකර්ෂණයක් දිනාගැනීමට සමත් වී තිබේ.නව ඩිජිටල් කරණ කටයුතු ආරම්භ කිරීමත් සමග කටුනායක බණ්ඩාරනායක ගුවන් තොටුපලේ ගුවන් මෙහෙයුම් කටයුතු, මගී මෙහෙයුම් කටයුතු සහ භාණ්ඩ මෙහෙයුම් කටයුතු පවතින තත්ත්වයට වඩා තවත් ක්රියාකාරී ආකාරයට පවත්වාගෙන යාමට මගින් අපේක්ෂා කෙරෙයි.මීට අමතරව මේ තුළින් ආරම්භ කෙරෙන විශේෂිත වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ලෙස සංචාරකයින් ලංකාවට රැගෙන එන බඩු භාණ්ඩ ලබාගැනීමට ගුවන්තොටුපළේදී වැඩිකාලයක් ගතකිරීම වෙනුවට ඔවුන්ගේ සංචාරක ගමනාන්තයන්හීදී එම භාණ්ඩ නිදහස් කරගත හැකිවන පරිදි නවීන ව්යාපෘතියක් හඳුන්වා දීම කෙරෙහිද මෙම සාකඡ්චාවේදී අවධානය යොමු කෙරිණි.සුහුරු ගුවන්තොටුපළ වැඩසටහන යටතේ සෞඛ්ය ආරක්ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද අවධානය යොමු කර ඇති අතර සෞඛ්ය දත්ත හඳුනා ගැනීමේ නවීන ක්රමවේදයක් ස්ථාපිත කිරීම තුළින් ලෝක වසංගත රෝග සහ අනෙකුත් අවධානම් ලෙඩ රෝග බණ්ඩාරනායක ගුවන් තොටුපළ හරහා රට තුළට ඇතුළු වීම වැලැක්වීමට අපේක්ෂිතය. දැනටමත් මේ සඳහා විශේෂිත වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙන අතර ගුවන්තොටුපළ හරහා ශ්රී ලංකාවට ඇතුළු වන සංචාරකයින්ගේ දත්ත, සෞඛ්ය තත්වය, උෂ්ණත්වය පවා වාර්තා වන ආකාරයට එය ක්රියාත්මක වන බවද අමාත්ය ප්රසන්න රණතුංග මහතා මෙහිදී සඳහන් කළේය.. සුහුරු ගුවන්තොටුපල සංකල්පය කටුනායක බණ්ඩාරනායක ගුවන් තොටුපළේ ක්රියාත්මක කර සාර්ථක කර ගැනීමෙන් අනතුරුව රට පුරා ගුවන්තොටුපළ ඒකාබද්ධ වන ආකාරයට ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමට රජය අපේක්ෂා කරයි.මීට අමතරව ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරක ගමනාන්ත සම්බන්ධයෙන් වෙබ් අඩවිවල පල කෙරෙන දැන්වීම් සහ තොරතුරු ඇතුළත් පිටු වල ගුවන් ගමන් වාර පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු ඇතුලත් කිරීම තුළින් තම සංචාරය සඳහා වෙන් කරගතයුතු ගුවන් වාරය කුමක්දැයි සංචාරකයින්ට සෘජුව දැනගත හැකිවන පරිදි නව ක්රමවේදයක් ද එක් කිරීමට මෙම සාකච්ඡාවේදී අවධානය යොමු කෙරිණි.ඒ අනුව ලෝකය පුරා විහිදී සිටින ශ්රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට කැමති සංචාරකයින්ට තම ගමනාන්තයත් සමගම තමන්ට ශ්රී ලංකාවට පැමිණිය හැකි ගුවන් යානය කුමක්දැයි ක්ෂණිකව හඳුනාගැනීමට අවස්ථාව සැලසේ.මෙම සාකඡ්චාව ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ අමාත්ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්රධනත්වයෙන් පැවති අතර ඒ සඳහා ගුවන් සේවා හා අපනයන කළාප සංවර්ධන රාජ්ය අමාත්ය ඩී වී චානක, සංචාරක අමාත්යංශ ලේකම් එස්,හෙට්ටිආරච්චි, ගුවන් සේවා හා අපනයන කළාප සංවර්ධන අමාත්යංශ ලේකම් මාධව දේව සුරේන්ද්ර, ගුවන් තොටුපළ හා ගුවන් සේවා සමාගමේ සභාපති විශ්රාමික මේජර් ජනරාල් ජී. ඒ චන්ද්රසිරි,උප සභාපති රජීව් සූරියආරච්චි යන මහත්වරුන් සහභාගී වූහ.
Hon.Minister of Tourism, Prasanna Ranatunga emphasizes that the government is not ready to hamper the country’s development, despite the Covid pandemic. The Minister said that development projects implemented already in the country will continue and new development projects will also be commenced as scheduled.
Hon.Minister, Prasanna Ranatunga, emphasizing that the government is not ready to implement large-scale development projects by oppressing the people and that the present government is implementing all development projects giving high priority to the needs of the people. The Minister said that a special program has been launched to monitor large-scale development projects implemented in the country and that steps have been taken to monitor the progress of such projects through the Ministry of Finance and inform the Cabinet. He also pointed out that its purpose is to expedite these projects.
The Minister was speaking at a discussion held to review the progress of the development projects implemented under the Expansion of the Katunayake airport. The progress of the Package A and B projects at the Katunayake airport was reviewed.
And, 93.85% of the Package B works which includes construction of remote apron and taxiway of the Katunayake airport have been now completed and the project will be completed by next September. Japanese Yen 1,152,273,761 and Sri Lankan Rupees 4,456,377,248.00 have been allocated for this project. Although, preliminary plans were drawn up for the construction during the tenure of President Mahinda Rajapaksa , construction began in 2017.Although,the construction was scheduled to be completed in two and a half years, its work was delayed due to the lack of proper supervision by the previous government. It was revealed at the meeting that Hon.Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, who became the Minister of Tourism and Aviation after H.E.Gotabhaya Rajapaksa became President, personally inspected the progress of the project every two weeks.
The minister instructed to complete the Package A project on time and not to allow any delay in its construction. The Minister pointed out that the Airport and Aviation Service Company should be directly involved in construction due to travel restrictions and health guidelines on the Covid pandemic situation and it is their responsibility to monitor the project on a regular basis.
Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Mr.S. Hettiarachchi, Secretary to the State Ministry of Aviation and Export Zones Development,Mr. Madhawa Dewasurendra, Additional Secretary,Mr.Sunil Gunawardhane,Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services Company, Retired Major General,G.A.Chandrasiri, Vice Chairman,Mr. Rajiv Sooriyarachchi and representatives of contracting Japanese companies and others participated in the discussion.
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