Hanimaadhoo International Airport is set to be opened with a grand ceremony before the works are completed.
Adhadhu understands that the airport is scheduled to be inaugurated tomorrow. However, Hanimaadhoo council member Ali Ibrahim said the airport still has four or five months of unfinished work.
“There are still works that can only be completed in four or five months. Our concern is that the company that built the airport will not do these works when the airport is opened before completion," he told Adhadhu.
The ground floor of the new terminal in Hanimaadhoo International Airport was opened on October 17.
“The duty-free areas on the second floor are not completed either. Then they are putting plywood around them and putting stickers on them. The internal works of the seaplane terminal are not completed at all,” Ali said.
Hanimaadhoo council President Abdul Sattar Hassan said the works of the new terminal, as well as the seaplane terminal, have not yet been completed.
“The jetty area is very shallow; no dinghy can approach it. They are working to dredge it, but even if they dredge it, it doesn’t seem like it will be that deep; it is always a shallow area,” he said.
Abdul Sattar said the international airport will be opened tomorrow, but the remaining works will be completed in three months.
The development of Hanimaadhoo International Airport started during the previous administration of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
The airport project, financed by India’s Exim Bank, costs USD 136.6 million. The airport has a runway of 2.46 km and can handle 1.3 million passengers annually.
