Days after India announced 250 million USD loans to the Maldives to deal with COVID’s economic impact, New Delhi has started work on the expansion of Hanimaadhoo International Airport in the northern Maldives, which is billed as the largest infrastructure and connectivity project in that part of the Indian ocean country.
While the project will formally begin next year after tendering by the Maldives government, an Airports Authority of India (AAI) team visited the airport earlier this week for assessment and initial survey. The AAI team is preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) and will submit it within 2 months.
The team also met with Maldives Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail and officials from the Maldives Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation.
The expansion of the airport includes– an extension of the…