The Road Development Corporation (RDC) is expecting to receive the machinery required for its operations by the end of this year, the company's Managing Director Brigadier General (retd) Ali Zuhair has said.
In an exclusive interview with PSM News, Ali Zuhair said that besides building RDC’s human resource capacity, the company is also working hard to expand its equipment and infrastructure resources. He said the company is in discussions with the Maldives National University (MNU) and other educational institutions to conduct programmes to improve the development and capacity of its staff.
Lack of machinery and equipment has long hindered RDC’s service delivery and Zuhair revealed that the company, supported by the government, is working round the clock to address the shortage.
He said most of the machinery utilised in the company’s operations are either leased or rented from private parties, leading to breakdowns, adding that the efforts to equip RDC with its own new machinery is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
"Repairing the machinery is also very costly. We have to provide a quality service. That can only be done with quality machinery. The hope is to have the necessary machinery by the end of the year," he revealed.
RDC is currently implementing 27 road construction projects in different parts of the country. Most of these projects, in various stages of progress, were awarded to the company during the previous Administration.
Zuhair said the aim is to complete the road construction in 10 islands this year.
The company has also taken over several projects that had been stalled when the government took over and is working to complete these projects by the end of the year, he added.