Seventeen Years After The War, Why Is Sri Lanka Thinking Small?
JAFFNA: Seventeen years have now passed since Sri Lanka brought the war against terrorism in the North to an end. The roads are open, the railway once again runs from Colombo to Jaffna, electricity has returned to communities that once lived through years of uncertainty, and daily life has largely resumed.
Yet if one looks beyond reconstruction and asks whether the Northern Province has truly been developed in the fullest economic sense of the word, the answer remains far less convincing.
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There is an important distinction between reconstruction and development. Reconstruction restores what once existed.
Development creates what has never existed before. It attracts investment, generates wealth, creates employment, builds industries and fundamentally changes the fortunes of a region. Judged by that standard, Northern Sri Lanka still has an enormous journey ahead.
The contrast becomes immediately apparent when one looks across the narrow waters of the Palk Strait.
Less than 400 kilometres away lies Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu and one of India’s most dynamic economic powerhouses. The state’s economy today comfortably exceeds US$500 billion and rivals that of many independent countries.
It is home to world-leading automobile manufacturers, information technology companies, advanced medical facilities, internationally recognised universities and some of India’s busiest ports. Millions of middle-class consumers travel regularly for business, leisure, education and healthcare.
Yet immediately across the water lies Northern Sri Lanka a region blessed with geography, peace and land, but still waiting to realise its economic potential.
It is difficult to escape one conclusion. Sri Lanka has never fully appreciated the strategic advantage that geography has handed it.
Jaffna should not simply be regarded as Sri Lanka’s northernmost city. It should be recognised as the country’s closest economic bridge to one of the fastest-growing regions in Asia.
The physical foundations already exist. The A9 highway, reconstructed during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration, now provides an efficient arterial link between Colombo and the North.
The Northern Railway, rebuilt with generous Indian assistance, once again connects Jaffna with the rest of the island. Telecommunications have improved dramatically, electricity is reliable and peace has endured for nearly two decades.
What remains missing is the vision to convert infrastructure into prosperity.
Perhaps the clearest example is Jaffna International Airport.
The airport has successfully restored direct connectivity with Chennai and Tiruchirappalli using ATR-72 turboprop aircraft. These services perform an important role and passenger numbers continue to grow. But they also expose the airport’s greatest limitation.
Jaffna cannot presently accommodate the aircraft that dominate regional aviation.
Today’s short-haul airline industry revolves around the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families. These aircraft carry significantly more passengers, operate more efficiently and serve hundreds of destinations throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Until Jaffna is capable of handling aircraft of this class, its role will remain that of a regional airport rather than becoming the international gateway it has the potential to be.
Imagine instead what that gateway could look like. Multiple daily services from Chennai. Direct flights from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Mumbai. Weekend holidaymakers from Tamil Nadu. Medical tourists seeking specialised healthcare.
Religious pilgrims. University partnerships. International conferences. Business delegations. Cargo operators. Regional logistics companies. Hotels. Restaurants. Retail developments. Export industries. None of these possibilities are unrealistic.
Kilinochchi and much of the surrounding Northern Province possess something increasingly difficult to find throughout Asia – large tracts of developable land.
Properly planned, these areas could accommodate industrial parks, logistics hubs, renewable energy projects, technology campuses, food-processing facilities, warehousing and export-oriented manufacturing capable of creating thousands of skilled jobs.
Instead, large-scale private investment remains limited. Modern shopping centres are few. International hotel chains have shown only modest interest. Manufacturing investment has been comparatively slow. The private sector has yet to embrace the North in the way that many expected would follow the end of the conflict.
Why?
There is no single explanation.
Land ownership issues continue in some areas. Bureaucratic procedures remain slow. Investment approvals often take longer than they should. Political uncertainty has periodically discouraged investors, while infrastructure still requires further upgrading.
Those are genuine challenges.
But they do not fully explain why successive governments – regardless of political persuasion- have appeared content to rebuild the North without transforming it.
Perhaps the greatest missing ingredient has been ambition.
For too long, Northern Sri Lanka has been viewed as a post-war reconstruction project rather than one of the country’s greatest economic opportunities. There is another comparison that deserves attention.
As recently as 2024, the Government committed approximately Rs. 17 billion simply to extend the runway at Hingurakgoda Airport so that it could accommodate Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft.
Few would dispute that Hingurakgoda has an important role to play within Sri Lanka’s aviation strategy. But if an investment of that magnitude can be justified for a runway upgrade in the country’s interior, one is entitled to ask whether the economic return would not be substantially greater if a similar commitment were directed towards Jaffna International Airport.
Unlike Hingurakgoda, Jaffna sits barely an hour’s flying time from Chennai, one of India’s wealthiest and fastestgrowing metropolitan regions. It is uniquely positioned to become Sri Lanka’s northern gateway for tourism, business travel, education, healthcare, religious pilgrimage and trade.
Every additional Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 arriving in Jaffna would bring not merely passengers, but investment, employment and commercial opportunity to a region that has waited nearly two decades to realise its promise.
The question therefore is not whether Sri Lanka can afford such an investment.
North Deserves More…
The more relevant question is whether Sri Lanka can afford not to make it.
Developing the North would not diminish the South. Prosperity is not a finite resource. A stronger Northern economy would expand Sri Lanka’s national economy, create new markets for businesses across the island, generate tax revenues, strengthen connectivity with India and reinforce Sri Lanka’s position within one of the world’s fastest-growing economic regions.
Seventeen years after the end of the war, perhaps the country should stop measuring success by what has been rebuilt.
It should begin measuring success by what has been imagined – and what has been achieved.
