Factcheck: President says VIA expansion began 12 years ago
The construction of the new terminal was halted at the end of Yameen's term due to financial constraints at the time.
By
Aman Haleem
At the Tourism Awards ceremony held Sunday evening, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said that the development of the Maldives' main Velana International Airport (VIA) began 12 years ago. "We are now witnessing the fruition of it," he said.
The president likely referred to the decision by MDP's first government to hand over VIA to a consortium established by India's GMR and Malaysian Airport Holdings Company to develop and operate the airport.
The question arises; was the development of VIA truly initiated during former President Mohamed Nasheed's administration?
GMR laid foundations; no plans for second runway
According to information available from previous news reports, GMR had considered developing VIA by constructing a new terminal and expanding the existing runway. The terminal was to be developed on the north side of the existing runway, towards Hulhumale. It was then planned to develop the south side of the runway for various commercial purposes.
At the time, no new runway was proposed in any of the drawings. Instead, the company was to develop the existing runway by expanding aircraft parking space and taxi area. The company had also said that around MVR 1 billion had been allocated for this.
However, GMR was unable to begin any of the works when the airport was seized amid political crisis following the change in government in 2012. At the time, no major work had been done except to build pillar foundations for the terminal area.
$800 million project to develop VIA
Former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's administration began developing the airport after it was seized from GMR. The mega project, which began in 2016 at a cost of $800 million (MVR 65.3 billion), was initiated as part of Yameen's economic development plans.
The project was planned in two phases, and under the first phase:
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Construction of a new runway; physical work began in February 2017
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Establishing a new fuel farm
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Establishing a new cargo complex
The terminal upgrades were part of the second phase.
The new runway opened on 19 September 2018, more than a year and a half after the project had begun. Although no further work was completed during Yameen's tenure, work on the seaplane terminal, VIP terminal and cargo terminal had progressed at a rapid pace.
The construction of the new terminal was halted at the end of Yameen's term due to financial constraints at the time.
Government is now planning to fully operationalise the new runway and open the new seaplane terminal on Thursday.
