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| UNP MPS attaked at the AirPort |
Opposition Lawmaker Dr. Harsha de
Silva yesterday charged in Parliament that both Mihin Lanka as well as
the controversial Mattala Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA)
are failures. He said that the Government invested over $ 300 million
on MRIA but income during the past six months was Rs. 150,779 and this
was mainly from Mihin.
According
to Minister of Civil Aviation Piyankara Jayaratne, MRIA received Rs.
16,185 from UAE-based airliner Rotana in May 2014. In response the UNP
MP quipped the amount was much less than what an average “curd seller
would earn in Hambantota”.
“You
were aiming to take MRIA to the London Gatwick level. But at this rate
it would take ages to reach there,” opined Dr. de Silva.
In
response Minister Jayaratne assured that Government would continue to
maintain MIRA rather than allowing the Opposition to convert it into a
museum.
“MRIA
was built with Sri Lanka aiming towards becoming the aviation hub in
Asia under the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ political manifesto, with the airport
having a one million passenger handling capacity and plans of
increasing it to nine million by June 2015 with the ultimate goal set at
500 million passengers in the years to come,” the Minister told
Parliament.
Original Caption: Harsha tells P’ment Mattala Airport is a failure
FT