Sri Lanka’s oil bunkering industry representatives have agreed to supply fuel to a Japanese company (Taisei Corporation) to construct the second terminal in the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake.
The warehouses have agreed to supply fuel (Approx.13000 litres) per day following a special request by Ports, Shipping and Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. Construction work on the second terminal of the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport has been slow for some time due to the Taisei Corporation of Japan facing a fuel crisis.
Senior Administrative Manager, Taisei - Sumio Takahashi, has told the Minister that he needed 13,000 liters of fuel per day for construction vehicles, heavy duty vehicles, generators and other purposes.
Commenting on this, Minister De Silva stated that he recently discussed with the Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka about the serious delay in the construction of the terminal due to the Covid-19 epidemic and the current fuel crisis.
The Cabinet of Ministers has also granted approval for fuel bunkers registered with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to import and sell the Jet A-1 aviation fuel necessary for aviation services, as the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has failed to supply the daily aviation fuel requirement for aircraft arriving in and departing from Sri Lanka – approximately 1.2 million litres per day.
This was done with the decision to allow private players to import fuel to Sri Lanka, thereby breaking the CPC-Lanka Indian Oil Corporation duopoly.
Commenting on this at a discussion with industry experts this week, Minister de Silva had requested the Civil Aviation Authority, the Customs, and the airlines to support these efforts taken by the fuel bunker operators.