President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has stated that the physical work of the i-Haven project, developed by the Government in Ihavandhipolhu area, will begin this year.

He made the announcement in the Presidential Address given to the Parliament.

In his Address, President Yameen said that the detailed development plan for the I-haven project, will be completed by April this year. This will be followed by a drive to secure foreign investments in order to commence physical work on the project.

The oft-spoken i-Haven plan was an electoral pledge. Former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, during his tenure as the Tourism Minister had said the project will begin “soon” back in 2014. The President repeated this statement in 2015 and in 2016 in various public speeches.

“In order to increase economic investment in the Maldives during the last year, major investments projects were undertaken towards improving airport and seaport facilities to ease the transportation difficulties in the Maldives. Hence, the Administration has spent a total of 900 million US dollars within the past three years for the development of Velana International Airport.”

The airport development project has been tasked to Saudi Arabia’s Bin Laden Group.

The Government of former President Mohamed Nasheed had leased Velana International Airport for development to India’s GMR Group for a period of 25 years, instead of acquiring a loan. Airport then was the largest revenue generator for the nation.