HULHULE-MALE’ BRIDGE PROJECT

Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC)
Date: 24 th June 2015
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure
Participants:
1. Ibrahim Siraj- Manager
2. Ibrahim Latheef- General Manager
3. Mohamed Nazim- Manager
EIA for the proposed Hulhule-Male’ Bridge Project
Consultation meeting with Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) was held on
24 th June 2015 at the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure.
The discussions were centred on questions designed to understand the impact of the Bridge on
MTCC ferry and bus operations, whether MTCC perceive any benefits from the Bridge, and if
they have any concerns and recommendations about the project.
MTCC believes that the company will have an overall positive impact from the proposed Bridge
project. At present MTCC ferry operations are run at a loss due to fee standards set by the
Government. Therefore, a shift in customers from marine transport to land transport would be a
financial advantage for MTCC. Moreover, MTCC has plans to shift its business from sea
transport towards mainly land transport such as buses, once the Bridge becomes operational.
Hence, loss in ferry customers to land transport would incur no negative financial impacts for
MTCC. MTCC also states that there would be no negative impacts on its staffs with potential
reduction in ferry operations between Male’ and Hulhumale’, because of their contingency plan
to transfer staff to other ferries such as the Viligili ferry and regional ferries, or in the worst case,
to land transport.
According to MTCC, the travel time would be shorter via ferries than via the bridge, especially
after the planned upgrading of the ferry service has been completed, which is expected to reduce
the travel time by ferry from 20 minutes to 15 minutes. MTCC estimates that it would take up to
20 minutes to travel between Male’ and Hulhule’ over the bridge if all four wheeled vehicles use
the same lane. However, if a separate bus lane were included, commuters will be able to travel
between Male’ and Hulhumale’ in 20 minutes. Therefore, MTCC recommends dedicating a
special lane for public buses in the bridge design.
Prepared by: CDE Consulting & China Shipping Environment Technology
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