Report from the Xinhua News Agency in Colombo on September 18 News from Male: The trial flight ceremony of new runways at Maldives Velana International Airport undertaken by the Chinese enterprise was held on September 18. When attending the ceremony, President of Maldives Yameen said that the new runway undertaken by the Chinese enterprise at the international airport will bring make tourism economy in Maldives develop by leaps and bounds.

On that day, President of Maldives Yameen, Minister of the Ministry of Economic Development Sayeed, ambassador of Maldives in China Zhang Lizhong, et al. attended the ceremony. Yameen expressed gratitude for the Chinese government to provide powerful economic support for the development of infrastructure in Maldives in the speech. The new runways make Velana International Airport able to receive more friends from various countries, which will make tourism economy in Maldives develop by leaps and bounds.

General Manager of Maldives Airport Company Musa said, the difficulty coefficient is very high to build airport runways on the land formed through sand blowing and sea reclamation. The refined construction management of Chinese enterprises guaranteed engineering quality, and he expected further cooperation in the future.

Manager of BUCG International who implemented the airport reconstruction and expansion project Li Daosong said, the reconstruction and expansion engineering of the Velana International Airport in Maldives is an important cooperative project under the framework of “the Belt and Road” in China and Maldives, which involves new runways, new apron and new oil depot. The project is not only an important engineering to develop tourism economy in Maldives, but also beneficial practice for China’s building industry to go global and put co-discussion, co-construction and sharing into practice.

As far as we know, the construction of the reconstruction and expansion project of the Velana International Airport in Maldives was commenced in November, 2016, and it is planned to be completed in November, 2019.