Work commenced on the building of a new terminal at the airport

Airport will always belong to the people of Maldives- Andrew

GMR has commenced the building of the 55,000 square meter new terminal at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

Speaking to the press yesterday, Development Officer of GADL International Limited, Vivek Sinhal said that the work was commenced during the first days of June and it is expected to be concluded in March 2013. He said that the structure of the building will be complete by January 2013. He said that the first storey of the building will be underground.

Sinhal said that 70 percent of the new terminal would be built with glass and the terminal will be built in a way to welcome sunlight as much as possible.

CEO of GMR, Andrew Harrison said that that the Airport’s terminal project is commenced under the Airport Master plan approved by both the government and the Maldives Airports Company so therefore he believes that no problems would occur during the course of the project.

Harrison said that the new terminal is built with the permission of the Housing Ministry and if any necessary changes are to be made which are not mentioned in the master plan then it will be informed to the Civil Aviation.

Harrison said that more changes will also be brought to the existing terminals such as the arrival terminal and the departure terminal. He added that already the many changes have been brought to the terminal now.

Harrison also said that options have been provided to build an emergency runway even if it was not mentioned in the agreement.

Answering a question raised by Miadhu Daily, Andrew said that although a master plan was proposed and an agreement was signed between the GMR and the government, more changes can be brought to the airport if the government agrees to hold discussions to reach for a agreement on the new changes.

GMR CEO further said that a food court will be opened at the building near to Arrival Terminal. He added that six retail shops will be opened in the area.

He said that currently there are 40 counters at the service of the tourists and when the new terminal is built there will be no shortage of help desks.

Moreover, Harrison noted that the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport will always belong to the people of Maldives. He said that the only role of the GMR is to develop the airport. He added that the work on the new forum with the features mentioned in the agreement will be finished by the year 2014.