HULHULE-MALE’ BRIDGE PROJECT

EIA for the proposed Hulhule-Male’ Bridge Project
Maldives Airports Company Limited
Date: 22 nd June 2015
Time: 11:00
Location: Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure
Participants:
1. Ibrahim Thoha- GM- AFM
2. Abdulla Mufeed- GM- Aerodrome
3. Mirfath Shafeeq- GM Project Cordinator
4. Ibrahim Hameed- SATCO
5. Adnan Ali- CDO
6. Mohamed Solih- DCO
Consultation with the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) was carried out on 22 nd
June 2015 at the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure.
The main role of MACL in the bridge project is to provide a road for public to pass through. The
first concern raised by the MACL was regarding the plan to use the existing road in Hulhule’ to
link Male’ and Hulhumale’. According to MACL, currently there is no runway separation barrier
between the runway and the road connecting Hulhule’ and Hulhumale’. To ensure the safety of
the public, MACL has consulted Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure to install traffic lights as
a mitigation measure. However, MACL points out that this will cause the road to be blocked for
about 10 minutes every time a flight lands, creating traffic and subjecting Bridge users to a long
waiting time in the traffic. According to MACL, this problem would not be an issue after the
new runway, which is planned to be built before the bridge becomes operational.
MACL also raised concern over the narrow width of the road in Hulhule’ compared to the
number of lanes on the bridge. It is expected that a traffic bottleneck will be created at the point
of connection between the Bridge and Hulhule’ if the existing road in Hulhule’ is not widened.
However, widening the road requires a lot of space from Hulhule’ island, which is a big plan for
Hulhule’ island requiring advance planning. MACL believes that any plans to widen the existing
road needs to be planned together with the Bridge project.
MACL requires information on the speed of vehicles and the entry points to Hulhumale’ to plan
land allocation in Hulhule’ for bridge and other purposes. Several entry points would mean that a
large land area will be needed from Hulhule’. Additionally, MACL anticipates that the proposed
Bridge project will require some form of Parking in Hulhule’, thus they have planned for a
minimum of 600 parking lots for cars. Motorbikes will not be allowed to enter the airport
according to the current plans of MACL.
Prepared by: CDE Consulting & China Shipping Environment Technology
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