HULHULE-MALE’ BRIDGE PROJECT

EIA for the proposed Hulhule-Male’ Bridge Project
6.9.1.11 Employment
Construction stage: It is estimated that 480 people will be employed over the period of
construction of the project. The current plan is to employ 120 technical personnel from China
and 360 labourers from the Maldives. Construction industry of Maldives runs mostly on foreign
labour at present and it is assumed that majority of the supply of construction labourers will be
foreigners. As a result, spending on the economy is anticipated to increase along with indirect
positive impacts to economy. However, the remittances will be lost from the economy.
Ferry services: The ferry services are provided by the state owned company MTCC and private
parties. It is anticipated that after bridge becomes operational, ferry services will be scaled down
although not completely halted. Since MTCC has plans to expand services to outer atolls, no
major impact is anticipated for MTCC owned ferries. The majority of employment in privately
owned dhonis is foreigners. At operational stage, some jobs are expected to be lost and some
dhoni ferries will be impacted.
6.9.1.12 Income and livelihoods
The construction of a bridge between Male’ and Hulhule’ will have direct local economic
impacts in the spending from construction phase, as well as construction of other infrastructure
development projects arising as a result of the bridge construction and at operational stage from
ongoing maintenance of the bridge. Secondly there will be impacts from the spending in the area
for cafes, restaurants, and accommodation facilities and other services.
Other indirect impacts to the local economy will be created by those generated from the
additional revenue to businesses and the workers from buying and selling of goods and services
in the economy.
It is estimated that some amount of construction will go in to local contractors. Maldives lacks
companies that specialise in this type of construction, given that no similar project has been
undertaken in the country. If construction is outsourced to local companies, the local companies
is anticipated to impact positively from construction as well as from supply of labour.
6.9.1.13 Tourism
The bridge is anticipated to ease access to hotels and guest houses in Male’ for the international
visitors especially arriving at night and waiting for daytime transfers and those who want to visit
Male’ during transits and while waiting for departure.
Four out of every five international visitors to the Maldives stay in resorts. 50% of the visitors
travel by speedboats to their place of stay, while another 31% of visitors travel by seaplanes and
Prepared by: CDE Consulting & China Shipping Environment Technology
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