The "good governance" government has changed the plan of the second terminal at Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport, to be constructed with a Japanese loan.

The terminal was planned when former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power and an agreement was reached in his last months in office, when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Sri Lanka.

Accordingly the planned roof of the terminal was to be designed in the shape of a lotus so that it could be seen from the air when the airplanes approach the airport.

The lotus was a symbol widely used by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

However, in a blatant attempt to make the project appear as theirs, the new government has redesigned the roof as a leaf. It is thought that this was done to erase the work done during the Rajapaksa-era on designing and reaching in to an agreement on the terminal.

To make it familiar to the Japanese, the design will now appear as a frangipani leaf.

If the plan had to be changed, there are several other leaves which are characteristically Sri Lankan. The choosing of the design of a frangipani leaf, reportedly according to the wishes of the Japanese, is questionable.