Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has said that work on a new road linking Hulhule’ International Airport and Hulhumale’ will commence next month.
He said the Environment Impact Assessment survey and design of the road have now been completed, adding that the project will be financed by Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
An agreement will be signed with HDC this month and the project is expected to be completed by April 2018, the minister said.The purpose of building a new road connecting the islands of Hulhule’ and Hulhumale’ is to facilitate traffic flow by the time the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge is inaugurated, he added.
The bridge project is contracted to China's CCCC Second Harbour Engineering Company. It will cost approximately US$210 million, of which 94% is provided by the Chinese government, which includes a grant aid of US$124 million and a soft loan of US$73.4 million. The remaining US$12.6 million is provided by the Maldivian Government.
The Government aims to inaugurate the bridge on the 26th of July 2018.