President Mohamed Muizzu has said the Velana International Airport (VIA) is the most important pillar of the country's economic independence.
Speaking at the inauguration of the new VIA terminal, Muizzu said economic freedom is important in maintaining independence.
"I wanted to inaugurate the terminal on our proud Independence Day. That is because economic freedom is very important in maintaining our independence," he said.
The President noted that the new terminal will bring many benefits to the economy, especially the tourism industry.
"If all of us had not worked so hard, it would have taken more time to complete this project. At that speed, the project would have been completed by 2027," Muizzu claimed.
He earlier set a deadline to complete the project for the tourism high season in 2024. But the work did not finish by the deadline and was done by the deadline set during the former administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
At Sunday night's ceremony, Muizzu thanked Solih for continuing the project work during his administration and also thanked former President Abdulla Yameen for starting the new terminal project in 2016.
Construction of the new terminal began on May 22, 2016. The work was awarded to Saudi Arabia's Bin Laden Group for USD 350 million and was scheduled to be completed by 2019.
But only the piling works were completed when Yameen failed in his re-election bid and the new Solih administration took over in 2018. His government resumed work in 2019 with a new design for the terminal.
With the changes to the design, the total project cost is USD 438 million.
