Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has provided an additional loan of USD 50 million for the project to expand and upgrade the Velana International Airport (VIA). The agreement was signed by Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer and Deputy Director-General for Admin and Finance Affairs of the Kuwait Fund Nedhal Al-Olayan.
The Kuwait Fund had also provided a loan of USD 50 million in 2016 for the airport expansion project. The expansion project costs USD 357 million and involves the construction of a 78,000 square-metre passenger terminal. The interior and exterior design of the terminal will incorporate cultural aspects of the Maldives, stated Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL).
The new terminal is designed to cater to seven million passengers per year, up from the current capacity of 1.5 million passengers. The project was initially contracted to the Saudi Binladin Group in May 2016. However, the project had been put on hold before MACL renewed its contract with Bin Laden Group in June 2019.
MACL has stated the new passenger terminal is expected to be completed by mid-2022.