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Contractor delays first-ever hotel at BIA

15 Aug 2021

  • AASL points at recent misleading reports on construction timeline
  • Initial construction deadline April 2021
  • Premise is empty with no construction currently
By Yakuta Dawood The construction of the first-ever airport hotel at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) is facing uncertainties, with the contractor to whom the project is awarded yet to begin construction even after three years since the awarding of the project, The Sunday Morning Business learns. The recently hyped-up airport hotel, which is being falsely reported to commence operations in December 2022, is a project that was awarded to a Japanese firm and the investment is yet to be announced. While reports note that the hotel is set to commence operations in December 2022, Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Pvt.) Ltd. (AASL) Director – Chief Operations Shehan Sumanasekara clarified that the hotel was initially set to complete the construction of the hotel in April 2020. However, the company to whom the contract was awarded has not yet started any construction work at the location as of yet. Explaining further, he stated that as per the agreement signed, Colombo International Airport Hotels Ltd. (CIAH) were supposed to complete the construction of the BIA hotel by April 2021 in order to commence the official operational activities at the hotel by October 2021. “As per the agreement, the timeline of constructing the hotel has passed. During the period of three years, not a single development on the land had been done until the end of the contract in April 2021. AASL had scheduled to commence operation in October 2021, since there is clearly no development to the initiative; decisions will be taken by the AASL Board whether to proceed ahead with the existing contractor,” Sumanasekara highlighted. Elaborating on the agreement signed between the two parties, he stated that if the contractor wishes to move ahead with the signed proposal, AASL might grant the request by extending the deadline by six months; however, this will only be granted based on the initial agreement signed, where the contractor will have comply to pay a concession rate for each month until the six months are completed, considering the fact that they have delayed finishing their task within the allocated time frame. “After the extended six months, AASL will review the performance of the contractor. If there is progress, then another six months will be awarded to complete the BIA hotel. However, if there is still no progress or if the contractor is not willing to comply with paying the concession rate, AASL would end the contract and will restart the task at the BIA hotel from its beginning,” Sumanasekara said. Commenting further, he added that the recent articles along with the pictures published by local media institutions are portrayed mistakenly, misrepresenting the actual information and thereby giving a wrong message to the public.


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