The President’s Office has stated that the development of the passenger terminal at Velana International Airport (VIA) has not been halted.
At a press conference, the Spokesperson at the President’s Office Miuvaan Mohamed refuted claims that the project has been delayed by saying that development is ongoing and is now 35% complete. He detailed that construction of the facade is scheduled for this month and the current work includes roofing. He added that the errors in the previous design have been fixed.
The project to develop the passenger terminal was initially contracted to the Bin Laden Group of Saudi Arabia in May 2016. However, the project was put on hold due to different reasons before Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) renewed the contract with Bin Laden Group in June 2019. The project, which involves the construction of a 78,000sqm terminal, costs USD357 million.
MACL stated the interior and exterior design of the terminal will incorporate cultural aspects of the Maldives. The new terminal is designed to cater to seven million passengers per year, up from the current capacity of serving 1.5 million passengers.