
A USD157,500 pre-concept paper support grant to promote land-based inter-island connectivity around Maldives’ capital and regional trade was approved by the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) Governing Committee during its meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 17 December. The pre-concept paper support will be implemented by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
The MCDF grant will fund early technical assistance for constructing a 4.32km link comprised of roads and a 2.6km bridge that traverses three islands in the Maldives’ North Malé atoll, at the heart of the Indian Ocean. The link will facilitate people and goods flows between residential areas in Giraavaru-Falhu, greater Malé, the Uthuru-Thilafalhu agricultural zone, the Thilafushi industrial zone, and major ports.
Among these include Malé Port, the new international port in Thilafushi’s emerging Special Economic Zone, and Velana International Airport in Hulhulé.
By catalyzing sectoral development and cross-border trade, the AIIB project will help advance the Maldives’ economic diversification, quality of life, and food security objectives while reducing logistics costs, promoting trade, and creating new business and employment opportunities across the region.
With support from the MCDF grant, preliminary technical, environmental, social, and economic assessments in line with international standards will be conducted to establish a sound concept design and identify an optimal alignment option for the bridge and road project.
The emphasis will be on ensuring the project’s long-term sustainability, taking into account lessons and best practices from the Maldives’ bridge design, construction, and operation experience. Additional focus will be on mitigating the project’s adverse impacts on local communities and coastal ecosystems, and climate change-induced sea-level rise, strong waves, and extreme weather.
MCDF-funded activities will foster, and draw upon, collaboration among the Government of Maldives, AIIB, and technical partners. They will also seek to build the institutional capacity of the archipelago’s Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure to proceed with the project’s concept development, as well as strengthen the Ministry of Finance’s ability to engage with diverse financiers and co-financiers.
Contact
David Hendrickson
Senior Communications Officer
Mobile: +86 185 0114 6758
david.hendrickson@themcdf.org



