A special envoy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in the Maldives to attend the inauguration of the redeveloped Hanimaadhoo International Airport.

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.

The Foreign Ministry said Indian Civil Aviation Union Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu was welcomed by Foreign Minister Abdullah Khaleel.

Indian High Commissioner G. Balasubramaniam and senior officials from the Foreign Ministry welcomed him at Velana International Airport (VIA).

The government plans to officially open the airport at a grand ceremony tonight.

However, Hanimaadhoo council member Ali Ibrahim earlier told Adhadhu the airport still has four or five months of unfinished work.

Hanimaadhoo council President Abdul Sattar Hassan also said the works of the new terminal, as well as the seaplane terminal, have not yet been completed.

The redevelopment of Hanimaadhoo International Airport started during the previous administration of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).