BIA Terminal-2 project embroiled in irregular deal
Terminal -2 construction work of the Bandaranaike International Airport Development Project (BIADP) Stage 2 is now facing an obstacle in continuing the work following the rejection of a proposal by the present contractor Taisei Corporation to engage a Chinese sub contractor to carry out construction activities with them.
Japan Airport Consultants (JAC) Inc, the project consultants has refused to approve the proposed sub contractor China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) on several grounds detrimental to the contractual agreement.
This was informed by the JAC in a letter to the CSCEC dated May 28 stating that this decision has been endorsed by the Airport Aviation Services Ltd.
The reasons for this were the insufficient experience of the company on similar works in Sri Lanka, lack of experience qualifications of their Chinese staff, not possessing of required machinery for heavy construction work, inadequate number of local staff with necessary skills and experience.
The Chinese company has failed to provide any evidence to prove their experience in a completed project of timely and quality delivery.
The tender to BIADP Phase II Stage 2 of constructing the Terminal- 2 was awarded to a consortium of Taisei Corporation and Obayashi Corporation of Japan in 2020 and Taisei has taken over the work dropping its partner Obayashi violating its contractual agreement.
All these irregularities and malpractices in carrying out this project has been brought to the notice of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by a group of engineers in a letter sent to him recently.
They have made a request from the President to carry out an impartial investigation in to this matter and a directive has been issued by him to relevant authorities, informed sources said.
The project will consist of the construction of new multilevel terminal building, Pier no 2 and Pier no 3 with a link concourse, new parking apron and taxiways, elevated access roads, multistory car park and public utilities.
It is scheduled to be completed in August 2023 increasing the present passenger handling capacity from 6.5 million to 15 million per annum.
The total cost of the project, comprising Construction Cost of Package A and Package B, Contingencies (10 percent) and Consultancy Services, is US$550 million with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funding.
The project was initially to commence in 2014 but was stalled during the previous regime resulting in massive loss of billions of rupees to the country and also having to pay damages to the construction company at that time, a senior official of Airport and Aviation Services Ltd disclosed.