Katunayake (, ), is a suburb of

Negombo Negombo (, ), also known as Punchi Romaya (Little Rome), is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the west coast and at the mouth of the Negombo Lagoon, in the Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, from Colombo via the E03 expressway ...

Western Province, Sri Lanka The Western Province ( ''Basnāhira Paḷāta''; ''Mael Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did not have any l ...

. It is the site of

Bandaranaike International Airport Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) (commonly known as Colombo International Airport, Colombo–Bandaranaike International Airport, and locally as Katunayake International Airport) (IATA airport code, IATA: CMB, ICAO airport code, ICAO: VC ...

, the primary international air gateway to Sri Lanka. With the change of government in 1977 and the introduction of the open economy policy a large area was allocated to create a free trade zone (currently known as the Export Promotion Zone).

Government and infrastructure

Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka has its head office in Katunayake.

SriLankan Airlines SriLankan Airlines is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka and a member airline of the Oneworld airline alliance. It was launched in 1979 as Air Lanka following the termination of operations of the original Sri Lankan flag carrier Air Ceylon. As of t ...

is headquartered on the grounds of the airport in Katunayake.SriLankan Airlines - Contact Us / SriLankan Airlines Offices
."

. Retrieved on 29 September 2009.

Economy

In 1977 the country's

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

government introduced an open-economy policy, which led to the creation in 1978 of the country's first Free-trade zone (FTZ), currently known as an Export Processing Zone, in Katunayake. Located approximately northeast of Colombo, adjacent to the

, the Katunayake KTZ covers and is the largest of the country's eight FTZs. It is governed by the Sri Lankan Board of Investment. In order to attract foreign investment the government provides a number of incentives, including duty-free import and exports, preferential tax, double taxation relief and up to 100% foreign ownership. The Katunayake FTZ houses over one hundred multinational industries, predominantly in the garment and clothing industry. From its inception the FTZ the workforce was predominantly young female migrants from rural villages, mainly from economically and socially marginalised groups. On 30 May 2011 the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

attacked workers at the Katunayake FTZ, protesting against a proposed new pension plan, resulting in the death of one of the protesters and over 200 injuries. The police actions led to the

Inspector General of Police An inspector-general of police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most ...

, Mahinda Balasuriya, resigning his position.

Transport

Katunayake is the site of the primary airport in the country,

. It is served by

Sri Lanka Railways The Sri Lanka Railway Department (more commonly known as Sri Lanka Railways (SLR)) (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා දුම්රිය සේවය ''Śrī Laṃkā Dumriya Sēvaya''; Sri Lankan Tamil dialects, Tamil: ...

Puttalam Line The Puttalam line (originally called the North-Western Line) is a broad gauge railway line in the Sri Lanka Railways, rail network of Sri Lanka. The railway line begins at Ragama junction and runs through the major towns along the north-we ...

, with stations at Katunayake, Katunayake South, and the airport.

is the northern end of the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway which connects

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

and A1 highway at Peliyagoda. Katunayake is currently served by the A3 highway from

References

External links

Sri Lanka Air Force Base
Populated places in Western Province, Sri Lanka {{WesternLK-geo-stub