The Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) has, instead of flights, attracted criticism. Many agree that this was an ego trip, amounting to a white elephant. As the present administration scratch their heads over this, scattered voices disagree with the popular consensus and insist the airport has tremendous potential.

Joint Opposition’s MP Kanaka Herath is one such voice. He speaks not as a politician, but as an experienced aerospace engineer, qualified from the University of New South Wales.

“Plans for a second airport existed long before MR became president,” explains Herath. “Chandrika Bandaranaike tried to build this airport and even Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2002.”

However, MRIA loses its credibility mainly because it is in MR’s electorate. “It’s an argument without basis,” counters Herath. “MRIA is not an isolated structure, but an integral component of the Hambanthota Harbor (HH).”

This however highlights that HH itself is considered a white elephant. The Colombo Harbor in itself is a strategic infrastructure, handling the bulk of Sri Lanka’s port and logistics activities. According to oxfordbusinessgroup.com, Sri Lanka’s geographical position as well as the Colombo Harbor’s ability to handle deep water container terminal facilities “have enabled the country to capitalize on opportunities in trans-shipments.” With three quarters of business from India, the Colombo Harbor “is set to benefit from continued growth in India.”

However, Sri Lanka has no land between itself and Africa or Australia, and equidistant from Middle East and East Asia. Thus, states oxfordbusinessgroup.com, “while business remains largely concentrated in Colombo, other facilities, such as those at HH are expected to maintain growth given their proximity to international sea lanes”.

With America focusing increasingly in Asia, the shipping routes in the Indian Ocean will become even more strategic.

“A vital shipping route from Europe to Far East,” points out Herath. “Is 400 km from Colombo, but only 200 km from Hambanthota. So, Hambanthota is better located to tap this route.

“In a port, facilities like bunkering, food and servicing are provided to people coming from all over the world. So, for them to change port to fly to other designation, there must be an airport in the vicinity.”

Shipping routes aside, Hambanthota district in the Southern province is ideal for MRIA, states Herath. The Southern coast is a popular holiday destination with two national wildlife parks. It is also home to the sacred Kataragama temples.

The economy here is traditionally agricultural based with 55 percent of the population dependent on the agricultural industry. Fisheries and animal husbandry are also other economic activities and 30 percent of the country’s salt production is from this area. Neighboring Central and Uva provinces are also major producers of vegetables.

Therefore, MRIA handles perishable cargo at reduced transport time and costs than Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayaka. As a result we are exporting to new markets in the Middle East and Maldives, proving MRIA as a good point to export cargo.

“Remittance from overseas workers contribute a major portion to our economy,” says Herath. “Most come from Eastern, Uva, Central and Southern provinces. So, Matthala is more accessible than Katunayaka.”

A second airport is also essential for an island nation like ours, especially to handle emergencies, says Herath.

“In 2001, when the terrorists attacked the BIA, as we didn’t have a second airport, we had to divert all flights to Chennai for which we had to pay.”

Terrorism is now in the past. However, the need for an alternate prevails. This government, amidst protests stored paddy in the airport to ridicule its very existence. However, shortly afterwards, quite to the government’s embarrassment, flights had to be diverted to MRIA due to bad weather that affected BIA. This has since then reoccurred a number of times.

However, critics point that BIA is affected by weather only few times a year. When it does, we already had better options.

It is the Southwest Monsoons, which coming over the sea results in copious rainfalls. This affects all airports in South and West, including the BIA and those in South India. That was the reason to opt for Chennai as it is in India’s East coast. Therefore, when BIA is experiencing bad weather, Chennai is not and neither are our airbases in Trincomalee (China Bay), Batticaloa and Ampara. Thus, we would not have had to rely on Chennai had we developed these airbases.

However, the Northeast Monsoons, though drier than the Southeast Monsoons as it comes over the Asian landmass, affects North and East. The inter monsoons, brining evening thunder showers affect the West. Thus the two possible locations these weather patterns marginally affect are Puttalama and Weerawilla.

“Actually, we started to build this airport in Weerawilla,” states Herath. “But farmers and other environmental activists protested.”

Weerawilla was in the direct path of migratory birds such as Flamingoes. Therefore, bundling an airport directly in their path drew much protests. Apart from the birds’ point of view, the dangers of large birds colliding with the planes were also highlighted. There were concerns that the large birds can easily get ‘ingested’ into the engines of large jet planes. As modern jets have only two engines, if one were to be damaged, the other will become stressed the longer the plane stays in the air. If the bird collides directly with the tailspin, it might even cause the plane to crash.

In fact, even heavyweights in the then government like Udaya Gammanpila threatened to resign if the project proceeded at Weerawilla. Thus, the location was reconsidered from Weerawilla to Matthala.

Still, many are concerned that even in then, the MRIA collides with wildlife.

“Any development,” says Herath, “affects wildlife. But, at Matthala, both agriculture and wildlife is less affected.”

In fact, wildlife encroachment is a problem that affects almost all airports. Its vast fields become natural feeding grounds to grazing beasts and birds.

Critics claim that Matthala as an airport location is unsuitable because of severe crosswinds, affecting the planes’ landing and takeoff.

“Crosswinds similarly affect many European airports,” explains Herath. “Modern aircrafts however can handle crosswinds of even up to 50 knots. ”

The capacity at BIA is reaching its maximum. In fact, March this year, the Airport and Aviation Services Limited signed up for a concessionary loan with the Japan International Cooperation Agency for the construction of a new multilevel terminal building – terminal 2. This is to be completed in 2020 and enabling BIA to ease air traffic as well as accommodate 15 million passengers per annum from its present figure of 8.5 million.

“For a long time, we have been considering a second runway in Katunayaka,” agrees Herath. “However, because of the BOI zone, there are limitations.”

He points the very factors that contributed to the BIA success is now inhibiting its growth. BIA, located in the Gampaha district is in the populace Western province that serve as Sri Lanka’s most important industrial, commercial and administrative centre. The Western province, especially with its international trade, contribute nearly 45 percent to the GDP. The Southern province on the other hand contributes only 11 percent. However, with a population of nearly 2,300,000, Gampaha district is only second to Colombo.

“Though BIA is built on 450 hectares, it has no further land available,” states Herath. “MRIA is on 800 hectares and has 1200 hectares more for expansion.”

MRIA is the only airport in Sri Lanka to be built on the green field airport concept. Yet, number of reasons has stopped MRIA short, explains Herath.

“Initially, there was no fuel facility. This will be sorted as there are tanks now at the HH, which can be piped into MRIA. The main constraint remains the lack of infrastructure. Lack of transport and accommodation is a hinderance to staff and passengers. Unavailability of hospitals with internationally recognized standards deters foreign airlines. While there are about 10 hospitals taken together in Negambo, Wattala and Colombo, MRIA is served only by the Hambanthota Base Hospital.

“While there is still no taxiway, the runway is 3500 m long. It is classified as Code F, which is better than the one in BIA, which is Code E. That is why at MRIA, A380 can land.”

Taxiways as paths connecting the runways with the aprons is to enable planes to leave the runway at higher speeds. This allows another to land or take off in a shorter time span.

“MRIA is still in the first stage. It’s planned to be built at the second stage. Presently, there is not much traffic anyway. So, there is really no need for a taxiway at the moment. It’s really not a problem, as a number of international airports are without taxiways.

“The real reason we failed though is we didn’t market it well. There’s bunkering at HH, but we didn’t connect it with the Airport. We could’ve started a maintenance facility, training school or even partnered with a courier service like DHL.

“Toulouse in France was a small airport in a small village. Airbus selected this as they needed a small airport. Then they started manufacturing. We could’ve started something similar.

The fact that the MRIA has a higher spec has led to speculation that the Chinese who designed and built this airport had done so to meet their military spec. The U.S. Department of Defense’s geopolitical theory of ‘String of Pearls’ speculate the real intentions of the Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean. This theory is based on the network of Chinese military and commercial facilities along its sea lines of communication.

Theorists claim that Chinese actions will create a security dilemma for India, slowly strangle India into isolation. Hence, it speculates that China is paying particular attention to the infrastructure of maritime centers such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives and Somalia to play a key location in their overall strategy. China of course dismisses the speculation, insisting that its burgeoning naval strategy is entirely peaceful and is only to protect its regional trade interests.

Herath too dismisses such a possibility.

“If there is an airport with military movements, International Civil Aviation Organization will not issue a license as an international airport. If there is any emergency, any aircraft can land at MRIA, but not for military. We have a number of airports and the one in Palaly for example is a military airport. That’s why it’s not certified as an international airport as it is used for military movement.”

Recent developments between the incumbent government and the Chinese investors also calls to question whether the fears over these speculations were ever real. During the previous administration that worked closely with China to bring about these infrastructures, many in the present government were in the opposition. They, together with West funded civil societies, voiced that Sri Lanka was fast becoming a Chinese colony. The Chinese involvement in the HH, MRIA as well as the Port City were the examples used.

However, PM Wickremesinghe clarified this August, that the Port City was back on track, larger in area than its original plans. Furthermore, 15,000 acres from Hambanthota will be given to the Chinese to be developed into an industrial park. The government, he said, will obtain maximum possible land from Hambanthota area and necessary land resources from Matara, Embilipitiya, Ratnapura and Moneragala.

MRIA is derided as the airport in the jungle. BIA succeeded as it was installed where infrastructure was already in place. Yet, despite Southern province been a popular tourist destination, a religious site and an important agricultural base, Hambanthota remained underdeveloped. Even during the height of the war, Hambanthota was the poorest district.

Thus, infrastructures as HH and MRIA brought the focus it needed to develop. Given the challenges, it was unfair to expect overnight success. At the same time, it is important to question ourselves why we found an international airport in Matthala ludicrous, but have not blinked when there are moves to turn the Palaly Military Airbase into an international airport.