The 19th Parliament's Public Accounts Committee has approved the lease of the new seaplane terminal at Velana International Airport (VIA) to Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) for the next two years.

The motion to lease the terminal to TMA for two years was presented to the committee by Maradhoo MP Ibrahim Shareef at a meeting held on Tuesday. While the motion is identical to the decision taken by the state regarding the matter, the ministry of finance informed Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) of the leasing procedure on February 5th.

Identical to the state's decision, the committee determined to lease 6،400 square-meters of the 28,000 square meter terminal to TMA at a rate of USD 10.35 per square-meters.

Speaking at the committee meeting, Shareef disclosed that MACL has been instructed to prepare for taking over sea-plane operations within the two years.

The motion also sought to lease the remaining space at the terminal through a bidding process instead of the same rate as TMA.

As such, while speaking at Monday's parliament sitting, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer stated that the ministry is ready to proceed with the new seaplane terminal operations the way the government envisions it, even if it means having to bring changes to the MACL board.

The motion was sponsored by Hanimaadhoo MP, Abdul Ghafoor Moosa and was approved with a unanimous vote.