Addu City, Maldives – Parliamentarian for Addu City Feydhoo constituency, Mohamed Nihad has raised concerns over the quality of Addu City’s road development project carried out by India’s AFCONS Infrastructure Limited.
In a tweet posted by the MP, Nihad stated that complaints over the quality of work by AFCONS were numerous and that the responsible parties must look in to the matter.
The project was officially in March, 2022 during a special ceremony, where President Solih was accompanied by Foreign Minister of Maldives Abdullah Shahid and Minister of External Affairs of India Dr. S. Jaishankar.
By the end of the MVR 1.2 billion project contracted to India’s Afcons Infrastructure Limited, a total of 107 kilometres of road is expected to be developed to modern standards, including the installation of a 103 kilometer stormwater drainage system to solve the flooding issues currently prevalent in the city during rainy monsoons.
The project will be financed under the USD 800 million line of credit from the Exim Bank of India. According to the terms of the contract, Afcons needs to complete the project within 730 days.
The USD 147.1 million project to develop the roads of the city is set to be completed within 24 months. This project includes paving of about 40 km of unpaved road and providing street lights and CCTV coverage for all islands of Addu.
In addition to this, the road work involves development of a new 4-lane bypass through the shallow back-reef on the ocean side connecting Hithadhoo Island with Maradhoo Island. The project also includes establishing a drainage system for all roads in Addu except for Feydhoo district, with approximately 103km in length.
The total length is about 1.5 km out of which about 0.9 km will be on embankment and will require shore protection and borrow material and the remaining length is bridged with two bridges of 210m and 450m length. In addition to this, the resurfacing of 3.315 km of existing roads is also included in the project’s scope.
