Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has revealed construction of the passenger terminal is fast underway without any interruption and will be ready for operation in 3 years. Land has been prepared to construct the new passenger terminal as part of the Velana International Airport (VIA) expansion project, according to MACL.
The new terminal consists of 40 gates, 36 immigration counters and an aero bridge paving way to directly walk on to the aircraft from the terminal. The existing passenger terminal caters 1.5 million passengers a year, while the new terminal can cater up to 7 million passengers. Many manual services will be automated when the new passenger terminal comes in to operation, according to MACL.
The construction of the new passenger terminal was contracted to Saudi Binladen Group at a cost of about USD 300 million. The one-billion dollar mega project to expand VIA commenced in 2016.