No plans to lease or sell Hanimadhoo Airport: Saeed

Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed has negated dismissed claims that the government intends to sell Hanimadhoo International Airport to India’s Adani Group.

The allegations that President Dr Mohamed Muizzu had discussed plans of selling the airport to Adani Group during his recent State visit to Singapore had been raised by former President Abdulla Yameen.

Saeed rejected these speculations in a post on X and stated that the government has no intentions of selling or leasing the airport to any foreign parties.

Development of the Hanimaadhoo International Airport is one of the biggest airport development projects being currently undertaken in the country. Development of the airport was contracted to Kalpataru Projects (formerly GMC Company) in September 2022.

Under the project, a 2.7km runway is being developed at the airport. The airport will also have the capacity to serve 1.3 million passengers per year. It comes equipped with an air traffic control tower, cargo building and a fuel farm.

Minister of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure Dr Abdulla Muththalib announced last week that the Hanimadhoo Airport project is now 88 percent complete, and will be ready for operations by September.