Final proposal on SriLankan Airlines to go to Cabinet 

• Aviation consultant to meet officials’ committee this week 
• Second part of report presented to PM 
• Recommendations to go to Cabinet

By Chathuri Dissanayake

The officials’ committee on the restructuring of national carrier SriLankan Airlines has been tasked with preparing the final proposal for a public-private partnership framework based on the report presented by a hired aviation consultant, a top Government source confirmed.

“The report presentation presented last week to the Prime Minister was on the proposed way forward. We are now tasked with analysing the report,” the official told the Daily FT.

British aviation specialist Nyras, which presented the second part of its report to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, focusing on the proposed framework of a public-private partnership (PPP), is to meet the officials’ committee this week to discuss the report.

The committee is then tasked with making a recommendation to the Ministerial Committee headed by the Prime Minister. The proposal will then be taken to the Cabinet for approval and future action.

The main points in part II of the report presented last week focused mainly on the shareholder ratio, as the Government is focused on retaining 51% control, official sources told the Daily FT.

Further, the report also discussed the options available for debt absorption as the Government moves forward to find an investor for the cash-strapped airline.

In addition, the report also includes proposals for tax concessions, especially in connection to withholding tax on investments, a source told the Daily FT. 

“We will need to come up with a scheme for tax concessions for the investment. If not, when VAT and withholding tax are added up it will be too expensive,” one source explained.