Monday, September 18, 2017

World’s Emptiest International Airport

Sri Lanka's second-largest airport is designed to handle a million passengers per year. It currently receives about a dozen passengers per day. It has annual revenues of roughly $300,000, but now it must repay China $23.6 million a year for the next eight years. To relieve its debt crisis, the Sri Lankan govt agreed to give China control of a deepwater port in exchange for writing off $1.1 billion of the island’s debt.  
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/magazine/what-the-worlds-emptiest-international-airport-says-about-chinas-influence.html

“We always thought China’s investments would help our economy. But now there’s a sense that we’ve been maneuvered into selling some of the family jewels.” ..This will be the story of OBOR down the road.

NYTimes: What the World’s Emptiest International Airport Says About China’s Influence.


Forbes: China's Ghost Town Diplomacy: The Story Behind The World's Emptiest International Airport

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