President Waheed inaugurates Addu International Airport Development Project

President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has inaugurate the Addu International Airport Development Project.

Participated by a number government ministers and senior officials, the inauguration ceremony was held at the Addu International Airport arrival hall this evening.

President Waheed kicked off the reclamation the airport runway area through a Telecast from the airport’s arrival hall.

Speaking at the ceremony, the President described the day a joyful occasion that marks the beginning of the “most important” project for the south thus far.

“Its our good fortune that this project has begun. A blessing, for the people of Addu, especially,” President Waheed said.

The reclamation work will be completed within four month’s time and the first phase of the project will be completed by October next year, the President said.

“Then, we’ll have a great big airport. Then, all big aircrafts can land here. From the strategic location of Gan airport especially, it will become a big harbour in the Indian Ocean. This will facilitate development for the whole region,” President Waheed said.

He said that the project will equip the airport with facilities to land and accommodate the largest aircrafts that fly today.

“The agreements to make this possible have now been jointly established. This will contribute greatly for the development of the Maldives, for the next five year.”

“A seaplane base will also start up, along with this airport. Right now, we have only one seaplane base. A seaplane hub will be constituted in the years to come,” the President said.

President noted that the project will drastically change atolls in the south of Maldives, providing ease and accessibility to the tourist resorts operating in the region.

“Work is being done to arrange transportation services from this airport. It is an aspiration of the people of Addu for being direct flights. Efforts have been made to make this possible, discussions are ongoing with Sri Lanka,” President Waheed said.

He said that the government has come to the conclusion that starting direct flights through the national carrier “Maldivian” is the most beneficial course of action and that the airline is to planned to begin scheduled flights on the 7th of August.

“These projects will kick off development. It will bring great development to the tourism industry. Not much has been done to expand the runway during the past 50 years. This has been no coincidence, this is the result of a lot of people’s hard work,” President Waheed said.

He said that the government put a great deal will into commencing the project.

“The government really wanted this. We have not taken up this responsibility just to play politics. We will begin projects in Addu that it has never seen before,” President Waheed said.