The opening of Abu Dhabi airport’s $2.94 billion Midfield Terminal has been pushed back to 2019, a senior official has said.

The building had already been delayed by around five months until December 2017.

Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed, the deputy chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, visited the project site and was quoted as saying that it would open in 2019, several local media outlets reported. The National, Gulf News and Al Etihad all covered his comments, but no reasons were given.

Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) is set to issue three tenders seeking suppliers for the Midfield Terminal project, with the airports operator advertising tenders for a company to run its staff canteen, to supply and install office furniture and provide trolley-management services at the new terminal, The National said.

“Abu Dhabi International Airport will be the jewel in the crown of the infrastructure projects in the emirate, and it will constitute a paradigm shift in international standards to cope with the development the UAE capital Abu Dhabi is currently witnessing,” it quoted Sheikh Hazza as saying.

He added that the airport will be able to “accommodate up to 30 million passengers a year, when it opens its doors in 2019.”

Midfield Terminal will house 65 aircraft gates, and will cover an area of around 742,000sqm. It will also include 3,500sqm of duty-free shopping. The consortium constructing it consists of UAE’s Arabtec, the Consolidated Contractors Company of Greece, and Turkey’s TAV Group.

The contract was originally awarded in 2012, and was initially due for completion in July 2017, the report added.