Dredging for Dhidhdhoo airport development to begin next week, council says

Dredging work for the development of an airport in HA. Dhidhdhoo is set to begin early next week, the island council has announced.

The Dhidhdhoo Council on Tuesday gave a final opportunity for boat owners on the island’s western shoreline to move their vessels from the area earmarked for dredging and relocate them elsewhere.

Council President Abdul Waheed said the western side of the lagoon will be dredged to create land for the airport, as well as for land allocation and industrial activities. He said physical work on the airport will start once reclamation is completed.

According to the council, a foreign vessel carrying the necessary machinery and equipment is scheduled to arrive in Dhidhdhoo on January 4, 2026.

The council noted that while notices were issued in mid‑October and early December instructing people to clear boats from the dredging area, some residents are still using the western side of the island to moor their vessels close to the project zone.

During a visit to Dhidhdhoo in late January this year, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said the airport was a key component of his administration’s regional development policy. He pledged that dredging for the project would be completed within this year and that airport construction would move ahead at a fast pace.

“Then, hopefully, I will come to this island to open the airport on the plane that lands at the airport. I think the first people to get tickets from the airport will include those who are politically opposed to us,” he said at the time.

MTCC was contracted on April 19 last year to develop the Dhidhdhoo airport, under a project valued at MVR 257.21 million that includes land reclamation, coastal protection, a 1,500‑meter runway, terminal, fire station, administrative building and airfield lighting, according to the company and government announcements. However, both MTCC and the Construction Ministry have acknowledged that practical work on the project has yet to begin.

The Transport Ministry subsequently wrote to Parliament’s Finance Committee asking it to look into why work had not started. In its response, the Construction Ministry informed the committee that the Dhidhdhoo airport project had not been awarded to any party on a contractor‑financing basis, but confirmed that land reclamation and beach protection works for the airport had been awarded to MTCC on April 19 last year, and that no feasibility study had been conducted so far.

Dhidhdhoo currently relies on Hanimaadhoo International Airport for air connectivity, with the island reached by sea from Hanimaadhoo.