Mattala International Airport – Giant step towards Asia’s aviation hub- IESL President
The answer to the question “Does Sri Lanka need another international airport?” is an emphatic “Yes.” Sri Lanka needs a backup for the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake, the only operative international airport in the country. It is an accepted fact that a backup should be maintained for any important system for the correct application of Business Continuity Plan (BCP) of an organisation or a country.
The way the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport and the Ruhunu Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Harbour are positioned, so many kilometers away from the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport, gives Sri Lanka an excellent BCP, Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) President Engineer Tilak De Silva said. “At a time such as the present, when nature is striking civilization with sudden environmental disasters such as floods, tsunamies and tornados of unheard of magnitude, a BCP for a country is a must. The distance between Colombo and Hambantota makes an ideal place to position backup installations. Establishing backup data centres of the existing data centres of the country is an excellent idea,” De Silva said.
“In the not-so-unlikely event of a natural or man-made disaster of high magnitude striking the western part of Sri Lanka, putting airports, harbours, data centres and other essential installations out of commission, the country does not have to undergo any hardships as a ready-made international airport, a harbour capable of handling vessels of any draft and duplicate data centres as well as other important installations are existing in Hambantota.”
“Airport engineering is a very complex subject requiring engineering knowledge in varied fields. The main requirement is designing and constructing a terminal facility used for aircraft takeoff and landing, including facilities for passenger and cargo handling and aircraft servicing.” “Facilities at airports are generally described as either airside, which commences at the secured boundary between the terminal and apron and extends to the runway and facilities beyond, such as remote or navigational air traffic control emplacements or landside, which includes the terminal, cargo-processing and land-vehicle approach facilities,” De Silva added.
“Airport design involves providing for convenient passenger access, efficient aircraft operations and conveyance of support materials and cargo. Airports provide facilities for changing transport modes, such as people transferring from cars and buses to aircraft, cargo transferring from shipping containers to trucks or regional aircraft supplying passengers and cargo for intercontinental aircraft,” elaborated Engineer De Silva.
Selecting a site suitable for the development of a new airport is also not as simple as it sounds. A few metropolitan areas, especially in countries such as Sri Lanka, have large areas of relatively undeveloped acreage within reasonable proximity to the population centre to permit development of new airports.
To establish a new airport, the following factors must be evaluated: Proximity to existing highways and major utilities, demolition requirements, contamination of air, land and water, air traffic constraints such as nearby smaller airport facilities, nearby mountains, number of households affected by relocation and noise, potential lost mineral or agricultural production and costs associated with all these factors. When these factors are evaluated, Mattala fits the requirements to a tee. The airport is within close proximity to the Southern Highway and the Ruhunu Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port, the demolition requirements are almost nil, land, air and water contamination is minimal, no small airport facilities and mountains exist in the area.
The number of households affected by noise and relocation is also minimal as the population density is very low in the Mattala area. There are no known mineral deposits on the site of the airport and agricultural production is not affected. “I remember, several years ago, when the government in power wanted to expand the Air Force air field in Weerawila, several farmers in the area made a strong protest saying that the expansion of the air field will call for the filling up of their traditional paddy fields,” De Silva said.
“The then government had to shelve their expansion projects due to strong protests from paddy cultivators and their associations. As the site for the Mattala International Airport is a vast piece of unutilized land, no problems of this nature arose.”
“As the President of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, I am delighted that many of our members have got the opportunity of working in this mega development project, giving them and the country recognition. The hotel and other infrastructure developments associated with the opening of a new international airport and the airport itself will require the services of many more engineers of diverse fields.”
“The development of this international airport is ushering in to a hitherto undeveloped area and the valuable foreign exchange it will be generating for the country, augurs well for the future. The opening of this Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala will be a giant step towards Sri Lanka becoming the aviation hub of Asia,” De Silva concluded.