An agreement has been signed today to carry out the maintenance of the Sinamalé Bridge with a grant from China.
The work was awarded for another three years to China's CCCC, which had also done the work earlier.
At the signing ceremony, Minister of Construction and Infrastructure Abdulla Muththalib said that under the agreement, China will help maintain the bridge and increase capacity for the work within the Maldives.
"This agreement was initially signed on April 2, 2023 between the Government of Maldives and the Government of China to develop resources and provide technical assistance for the maintenance of the bridge," Muththalib said.
The minister said local technicians will be prepared and trained to carry out these tasks.
"Local technicians will be prepared and provided necessary training. Once the agreement is completed, it will include building Maldivians to the level that they can take charge of the maintenance work of the bridge and training Maldivians to carry out maintenance work under the supervision of Maldivians," Muththalib said.
He said that while locals train for the work, all the training will be available from there when the work is done on the bridge.
Areas where locals are being trained for the maintenance of bridges:
• Road engineering
• Safety facility, landscaping
• Bridge maintenance
The minister said that after the completion of the Sinamalé Bridge in 2018, the company that built the bridge took good care of its maintenance for two years.
However, for the next three years, the contract was not renewed and no maintenance work was done, he said.
Tasks under agreement:
• Finishing and repair work
• Preventing maintenance work
• Bridge maintenance work
• Conduct assessments related to identification of bridge maintenance work
• Establish a record-keeping system
• Identify and carry out maintenance work (which includes work done every six months and annual work) to identify repairs required for various components of the bridge.
The entrance arch at the start of the bridge was badly damaged and was handed over to STELCO and repaired late last year.
Nearly USD 200 million has been spent on the Sinamalé Bridge, the largest infrastructure project in the Maldives so far. Of this, USD 116 million is a grant from the Chinese government. China provided USD 72 million in loans, while the Maldivian government spent USD 12 million.