HULHULE-MALE’ BRIDGE PROJECT

EIA for the proposed Hulhule-Male’ Bridge Project
1.4 Project Rationale, Aim and Objectives
The main rationale for the Hulhule-Male’ Bridge is to increase the social development and
economic opportunities in the Male’ urban area. One of the biggest constraints to the full
utilization of Male’-Hulhule-Hulhumale as contiguous unit is the absence of land links.
This project will enable the linking of Male’ to Hulhule. It is critical to have a land link between
the capital Male’ and the international airport that serves the capital. The international airport
presently receives about three million international passengers and 796,333 domestic passengers
every year. The planned airport expansion and redevelopment envisages arrival of over 5 million
tourists to the Maldives every year.
Hulhumale’ currently hosts a population of 30,000. By the end of phase II development,
Hulhumale’ is expected to have a resident population of about 200,000. The bridge will allow
for the full integration of the Hulhumale’ residential population as an integral part of the Male’
urban area. The bridge will provide essential access to services such as schools, hospitals, sports,
recreation and entertainment. The bridge will also facilitate daily commuting for employment
and business purposes.
The bridge development is envisaged to provide new and additional economic opportunities for
businesses in the Male’ urban area and improve the economic competitiveness of the Maldives
as a whole.
The aim of this project is to link the two main settlements in Male Urban Region – Male’ and
Hulhumale’. The project is part of an overall master plan to link all islands within the Male’
Urban Region group.
The object of this project is to build a bridge linking Hulhule and Male’ and subsequently to
Hulhumale via the existing roads between Hulhule and Male’.
1.5 Consultants, Contractors and Government Institutions
All the EIA related work is undertaken by consultants from China Shipping Environment
Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd (CSET), China and CDE Consulting, Maldives. The project
engineer is CCCC Highway Consultants Co. Ltd, China.
The project is executed by Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure
1.6 Project Financing
The project is to be financed with the assistance of Chinese Government, Chinese banks and
Maldivian Government. The estimated project cost is between US$250-300 million. The
Prepared by: CDE Consulting & China Shipping Environment Technology
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