Consultants support upgrade of Bandaranaike International Airport

The Airport Authorities of Sri Lanka has hired Royal HaskoningDHV as part of a joint venture with local firm Engineering Consultants to supervise the upgrading of the Bandaranaike International Airport runway. The work, which is carried out in 200 meter segments per day, is set to be completed by the start of April.

Bandaranaike International Airport is located near Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo. The airport is the country’s primary international airport, serving around 9.2 million passengers last year, and is administered by the Airport Authorities of Sri Lanka (AASL).

To meet increased demand, the airport is undergoing several new developments. This includes a new terminal building, whose construction is planned to be completed in 2019, and the resurfacing of its primary runway, which is planned to be completed by the end of this year.

As part of the runways resurfacing project the AASL has appointed joint partners Engineering Consultants and Royal HaskoningDHV the responsibility of supervising all the construction works. The work will see the runway closed for eight hours each day, during which 200 meters of the 3,500-meter-long runway are transformed. Once completed, the parallel taxiway will be resurfaced and upgraded. The work will be completed by April 6th 2017.

“As the main international airport for Sri Lanka and with just one runway, this is a high profile, high-pressured project which is vital to sustaining its future,” comments Fer Mooren, Leading Professional Airside at NACO. “All construction works are taking place simultaneously in order to maximise efficiency during the strict construction window, with three teams working on replacing all lighting, widening of runway shoulders, and laying two new layers of asphalt to resurface the runway. Our duty is to ensure that all works are completed in a safe and compliant manner so that the airport functions as planned during this construction period.”