Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation Aishath Nahula, on Friday, announced that the state will develop airports in Baa Atoll's Thulhaadhoo, Shaviyani Atoll's Bilehfahi and Meemu Atoll's Muli.
Speaking at the state-run media channel PSM on the occasion of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration hitting its two-year mark, Nahula stated that the work on Bilehfahi and Muli's airports will begin next year, but did not state when Thulhaadhoo's airport project will commence.
Just prior to Nahula's announcement, Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail asserted last week in a Parliamentary committee meeting that the Solih administration will follow through with former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's pledge of ensuring that an airport is reachable within 20 minutes or less from any island in Maldives.
He highlighted that five more airports must be established in order to achieve this goal.
Addressing the aforementioned pledge, Nahula noted that it can be almost fulfilled when the airport in Muli is operational and air travel to Makunudhoo in Haa Dhaalu Atoll is established.
"Since Makunudhoo is a remote island, the airport will be a bit far. However, we have plans to make air travel arrangements to Makunudhoo as well", Nahula said.
Answering a question posed by the Parliament's Budget Committee, Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam asserted that the development of airports positively impacted the economy as a whole.
Addressing that none of the regional airports turned a profit in 2018, Aslam stated that some investments do not directly generate profit, but impact the economy in other ways.
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