K.D.S. Ruwanchandra, the Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, has announced that the draft commercial agreement for the joint management transfer of the loss-making Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport is currently with the Attorney General’s Department. This agreement involves India’s Shaurya Aeronautics Pvt Ltd and Russia’s Airports of Regions.
Historically, the state-owned Airports and Aviation Services (Private) Company has not entered into contracts with external agencies for airport management. Should the agreement proceed, it will result in India and Russia overseeing the operations of the Hambantota district airport, while China manages the nearby Hambantota port.
The discussions around this management transfer followed a memorandum of understanding established with the Sri Lanka Airport and Airline (Private) Company. However, it should be noted that Sri Lanka Airports and Airlines (Private) has not authorized any other entity to take over airport management responsibilities.
The Sri Lanka Airports and Aviation Services (Private) Company operates under the Civil Aviation Authority Act of 2010 as the statutory service provider. To evaluate the legality of the proposed management transfer, the company sought the Attorney General’s opinion on whether the statutory service provider could amend the existing Memorandum of Understanding to permit the management shift.
The Attorney General’s opinion, dated August 8 of this year, indicated that three clauses of the Memorandum of Understanding would need to be revised to enact the Cabinet decision to transfer management to an entity outside of the Airports and Aviation Services (Private) Company. Furthermore, under the Civil Aviation Authority Act, certain essential services must remain under the Government of Sri Lanka or its affiliated entities, which raises questions about the feasibility of outsourcing these operations.
