Minister: There won’t be any quality issues with the bridge

Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has provided assurances that there won’t be any quality issues with the Male-Hulhule Bridge, and that the project was being very closely monitored.

In an exclusive interview, “Sun” questioned Minister Muizzu about the quality of the huge project, given the recent controversies surrounding the quality of other infrastructure projects undertaken by government.

Muizzu noted that the consultant for the project - Highway Designing and Planning – was a company which had experience in managing major bridge projects in China, and that the company was managing the project through collaboration with a project committee established within the Ministry.

Muizzu said that work on the bridge was monitored on a daily basis to ensure its quality, with meetings held on a weekly basis.

“President Yameen’s government will not carry out any project irresponsibly. We will not undertake such a project without a good consultant to monitor and manage the project. The people will have that confidence,” he said.

Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure made the decision last Thursday to a bridge project management unit, and announced for an engineer for the committee.

Muizzu said that the project was going ahead as per schedule, and that they were aiming to open the bridge on July 26, 2018 – Independence Day.

The Chinese-Maldives Friendship Bridge is 1.39 kilometers long and 20 meters wide.

It will have separate lanes for four-wheeled-vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians.