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Addressing the weekly defence press briefing at the Media Centre of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development at Kollupitiya, the Brigadier said that the major objective of the proposed facility was to carry out maintenance work on Chinese built aircraft used by the Sri Lanka Air Force locally.
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said in Parliament on Tuesday that Chinese had been permitted to construct an Aircraft Maintenance Centre in Trincomalee and that it would be detrimental to India’s Security interests.
Brig. Wanigasuriya said that at present Chinese Aircraft in service with the SLAF had to be sent to Pakistan for maintenance work and that facility in Pakistan had also been set up with Chinese assistance.
"We have vessels maintaining facility of the Sri Lanka Navy set up under Japanese assistance," Brigadier Wanigasooriya said.
Sri Lanka government could save millions by setting up such a facility here, he said.
SLAF spokesman Wing Commander Gehan Seneviratne said that most of the Chinese built aircraft in service with the SLAF had been manufactured before 1980.
The Opposition leader said that those companies were no longer manufacturing such aircraft at present, but they offered servicing and maintenance to keep them flying, he said.
Wing Commander Seneviratne said that according to the proposal Chinese experts would train SLAF personnel to carry out maintenance work at the initial stage of the facility, but later all maintenance would be entirely handled by Sri Lankans.
By Dasun Edirisinghe
island.lk
