Addu City, Maldives – Mayor of Addu City, Abdulla Sodiq (Sobe) has said that Addu link road will be widened to a four lane highway with provision for monorail in the future.
In a tweet he posted today, Sobe said that the project has already been planned and the changing of the link road near Hankede area is a part of it. Within the Addu road development project which would be carried under Indian EXIM Banks line of credit, a 1.4 kilometers of new 4 lane detour link road will be built near Hankede bridge.
Sobe had said that in addition to this 1.4 kilometers of the link road, the whole link road starting from Gan island until end of Hithadhoo would be developed to a 4 lane highway in the future.
According to the council, the purpose of changing the link road to exclude the island of Hankede is in order to develop the island as an eco-tourism hub to facilitate in the expansion of tourism activities in the city.
In addition to this, Sobe also discredited PPM candidate competing as the Mayor of Addu City, Mohamed Latheef’s remarks on saying that most of the roads of Addy City being built with Cement Stabilised Base (CSB) layers. Sobe also told that all main roads of Addu City will be developed with asphalt and that CSB layer will be put in smaller roads to safeguard the storm water drainage system until those roads can be paved with asphalt.
The agreement to develop the roads was signed on February 21, 2021 during the Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s visit to Maldives.
The contract was signed between the Ministry of National Planning, Housing & Infrastructure of Maldives and Afcons Infrastructure Limited. It is the first contract to be signed for a project financed under the $800 million Indian Line of Credit.
The construction project of Addu City which will be focusing on designing and building the roads of Addu along with fixing the drainage systems in the city. A second link road is to be constructed with the cumulative road development projects adding up to MVR 1.19 billion. The road development projects are supposed to be completed within 730 days.
The Ministry of National Planning, Housing & Infrastructure detailed that under this agreement the following things will also be built and developed in the city.
- Storm water drainage: total length of drainage system is approximately 103 kilometers.
- Road development: asphalt road to be built in total 40 kilometers of Hithadhoo, Maradhoo, Maradhoofeydhoo, Feydhoo and Hulhumeedhoo roads combined. Along with this, 60 kilometers of Cement Stabilized Base (C.S.B) layer to be built in the roads without asphalt. 3.4 kilometer of the present asphalt roads to be resurfaced and CCTV cameras, lights and other traffic safety equipment to be fixed.
- Detour 4 lane link road: 1.463 kilometers of new 4 land detour link road to be built near Hankede bridge.
This project is set to transform Addu City into a fully functional city, a thriving economic hub and an attractive tourist destination under the “Addu Development Project (ADP)” project. With this project, it is set to facilitate public sector investments in the economy and the development of infrastructure required to enhance private sector investments that would increase the economic growth of Addu City.
