Rajapaksha is pro Sri Lanka as one member put it. Sometimes it might go against the Indian interests. We cannot help there. Sri Lanka was never used as a base for India activities until recently when the H'tota port was given to Chinese. Now we cannot help it either. It was another mess India created.
Excuse me? What did we create?
Your government did not appoint proper assessment agency to evaluate the financial feasibility of the port. You are in debt due to the impractical implementation of the port project and now you are blaming us? H'tota port's financial concerns are just your own internal politics.
Don't blame it on us. We are not interested in interfering in what you do with your tax money. Also, we have nothing against Chinese making commercial seaports for trade there. Our only concern was the
stationing of PLAN nuclear submarines, which your President has been kind enough to address. That's it.
How exactly is Rajapakse "pro-SL", if he is is blowing away your hard-earned cash in white elephant projects? Did you even read the reports? Sure it has commenced lay-up operations, but now within Chinese sovereign control, there is little you can do to control its operations.
Sure, the infrastructure looks glitzy on the cover of an economic magazine, but how is it benefiting you guys vis a vis Gwadar, Chahbahar and Chittagong, which are already backed with sufficient capital to sustain medium and long term economic competition? You need to see the capitalization aspect of the ports and large-scale commercial projects too.
Chinese now have complete control on the port and technically it has become China's port until you pay up the $1.1 billion back - with interest applicable.
I don't know what is the use of the H'tota port now. It is sold to Chinese. They rule the roost there.
BTW, Gwadar is too far away to become a transhipment hub. It may be used to pump Gulf oil. That's it.
H'tota will become very important if the "Kra" canal is opened. Chinese might do that in the future.
The bold part doesn't sound too optimistic doesn't it? Especially if it is controlled by a state controlled entity which knows the extent of its receivables from your coffers now.
Gwadar is directly linked with OBOR, all the way throughout Pakistan, P-0-K and straight into China. Sure it was developed to primarily transport oil in case of a blockade at Malacca in times of conflict, but Gwadar was designed for transshipment of goods to Europe, Middle East and Africa as well. Oil is just PHASE 1.
AFAIK, H'tota was not designed as a free port. It was designed to offer services to the ships using the East-West shipping lane. As I said earlier, if the "Kra" canal is built; Singapore will be doomed to fail. Unless otherwise, H'tota nor Colombo can directly compete with Singapore.
Is there any concrete work going on in developing the canal? Also, can you please post some pictures of the project? Thanks.
Mattala needs to be marketed more. It is sitting right in the middle of Sri Lankan tourist zone. And it was built to function as the back up airport for the Colombo Int. airport in Katunayake. Before that many diverted flights went to Chennai. Why should Sri Lanka divert it's flight to someone else's airport?
A backup airport with nothing to offer the demand and supply drivers in the aviation market. That, is what I am talking about my friend.
An airport cannot sit empty for so long. This is more to do about commercial viability in terms of ancillary provisions for airlines, passengers and commercial companies in and around the airport. You want to start making money using an airport? Then the commercial masterplan should have been ready when the airport was in its STAGE 2 of development. Not after its made.
Every day you fail getting in flights, your treasury bleeds.
The Hub and Spoke method is dying down now as the advent of long range fuel efficient aircrafts like B787 and AB350. This is the primary reason why AB380 to fail. H'tota can be connected with all European, Australian and some US cities with ease. Why do we need a hub?
You are referring to the H&S model of small commuter carriers operating domestically. That, is dying down. But not the international H&S.
Today's hubs are not dictated by the range or fuel efficiency of the aircraft but the multi-directional connectivity across different sectors simultaneously all over the world. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta are already seeing the operations of A350s and B787 aircraft.
The range is not the question; the question is about developing and sustaining a critical mass of passengers from different parts of the world to do some sort of engaging monetary activity at an airport. That, is the purpose of hub and spoke at international level.
Simply put---> More diverse passengers at an airport = more probability of non-aeronautical commercial activities at the airport = more revenue generated = better offer for airlines to bring in more people and offset their own costs at that airport.
Dubai is not an idiot to not have thought of this, especially when it itself operates the world's largest fleet of ultra-long range aircraft.
Masterplan can be made according to the national requirements. That is not a big problem.
Middle of nowhere? Hah.
One little question; are you aware of the gestation period of monetization of such large-scale assets at a national level?
This is the problem with India. Mattala's success is the ultimate downfall of Chennai and other regional air ports. Chennai was specifically cashing in on the fact that Sri Lanka do not have a backup air port. Now Mattala fills the hole which previously Chennai was in.
You people do not want Mattala to succeed. But we do. Mattala is not simply viable it is an extremely profitable venture.
Dude, that's pure business. It will only push for all regional southern Indian airports to modernise faster. Right now, your biggest competitor and threat is not Chennai; it is Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport. It is recording a 35% quarterly growth in capacity expansion, infrastructure and air traffic.
Chennai was always a 'destination airport' just like Colombo, because Chennai is a metro city and businesses are headquartered there. The lazy government bureaucrats never really focused on behind-beyond model of revenue generation.
If you want to compete with AAI government airports, then you are not seeing the real competition.
Bengaluru would eat Mattala airport for breakfast any day in terms of route competition. Let's not get to the commercials of it.
As for the bold part, be assured that no one in India would have the interest in buying Mattala. It was just a preliminary statement issued by the government here as a thought.
The National Civil Aviation Policy of India has highlighted the need for augmenting and constructing 100 more airports (after my home state Sikkim's airport, which marks 100th operational commercial airport in India) by 2035, in order to sustain our domestic aviation industry alone. Do you know how much of capital that means? It means all our money is parked within our own projects for a very long time to come.
Do you really think that after Maldives episode, private operators like GMR or GVK would want to cannibalise their own market? Indian companies are acquiring airports in different regions such as southern Europe and Philippines. SL offers no commercial advantage to their own accounting books.