External affairs minister, S Jaishankar visits Maldives for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Hanimaadhoo International airport project. The $136.6 million development of the Hanimaadhoo airport is being executed by Indian company JMC Projects Ltd, and is financed through a line of credit from India’s Exim Bank. The project includes the construction of a 2.46 km runway that can accommodate larger aircraft and a terminal with an annual capacity for 1.3 million passengers. This would be the second largest infrastructure project that India has undertaken in the Maldives in recent months, following the $500 million Greater Male Connectivity project, which connects the Maldives capital to three neighboring highlands with a 6.74 km bridge and causeway over the sea. This project is aimed to inverse the number of tourist footfalls in the Northern Maldives.