The foundation stone for the construction of the main passenger terminal building at the Mattala - Rajapaksa International Airport will be laid by Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa today

The airport which will be built from funds from the China Harbour Engineering Corporation, will see that the first phase will be completed by end 2012 on a 800 hectare block of land while the second phase will be built on the remaining 1,200 hectares. The new airport will also target the arrival of a million passengers annually and the runway, will also accommodate even the state of art A 380 aircraft, which will be 3,500 feet in length and 75 metres in width

The Mattala airport will be used as a principal cargo hub where vegetable and fruit exporters in southern Sri Lanka will also get an opportunity for exporting their produce which are perishables to the Gulf with the minimum transit times while the tourists who will arrive there will also have the minimum transit times to holiday destinations such as Nuwara Eliya and Arugam Bay, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) Chairman Colonel Prasanna Wickremasuriya said.

The Mattala - Rajapaksa International Airport, will also stress on having 60 percent of the flights for cargo and 40 percent for passengers and these ratios will also be increased with the passage of time.

The Chairman also said that the airport would be the only environmentally friendly airport in South Asia where the government would also be targeting to get Green Status as well.

Courtesy : www.priu.gov.lk