Maldives government is looking to complete the new resorts contracted out for the year before the completion of the project to develop the archipelago's main airport, tourism minister Moosa Zameer revealed Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters during a government function on Tuesday, Zameer said the development of the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) would bring a revolutionary change to the country's tourism industry.
President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has prioritized the completion of the new resorts already contracted out in the next two years, he explained.
"We pledged 50 new resorts in our elections manifesto. But now we are looking at 60 resorts and we're now pushing to complete the contracted resorts before we complete the airport project," Zameer said.
The government had awarded the development of INIA’s new runway to Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) of China, with UAE’s Gulf Cobla as its subcontractor for the land reclamation.
The USD 373 million (MVR 5.7 billion) project to develop a second runway in INIA aims to establish a new runway measuring 3,400 metres in length and 60 metres in width.
The project includes development of a new cargo terminal with a capacity of 120,000 tonnes and a fuel farm with a storage of 45 million litres.
