Construction work on the second passenger terminal at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake, which was halted due to the economic crisis, is scheduled to resume in November this year.

Issuing a statement, the Ministry of Ports and Civil Aviation said it expects to complete the project within 30 months from the date of resumption.

This matter was discussed during a special meeting held yesterday (12) between the Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation, Anura Karunatilleke, and Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Isomata Akio. A delegation from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) also participated in the meeting.

The main objective of the discussion was to expedite approval of the loan amount and contract value related to the project. The Ministry stated that, upon completion of these steps, construction work will be able to resume in November.

Construction of the second terminal originally commenced in December 2020. The Government of Japan provided a loan facility of 75 billion yen for the project.

However, due to the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, construction was temporarily suspended in April 2022.

The procurement process for the project was restarted in late 2024, with bidding concluded in 2025. The process is currently in its final stage of selecting the relevant contractors, it said.

Furthermore, following several rounds of discussions between the Government of Sri Lanka, the Government of Japan, and JICA, the Japanese side has expressed its agreement to provide the necessary loan facilities to complete the project, based on confidence in the current government, the statement said.

The Minister also agreed to hold prompt discussions with the Ministry of Finance to secure approval for the required loan amount.

During the meeting, the JICA delegation proposed that finalizing the loan amount and signing the loan agreement should be the first step, while awarding the contract based on the negotiated price should be carried out subsequently.