The Government of the Republic of Maldives has received three proposals from Chinese companies to develop the Male'-Hulhule bridge through a PPP project.

Although nineteen companies from eight countries had earlier expressed interest in the project, the three bidders for the project are the following:

• Dongfang Electric International Corporation,
• China Machinery Engineering Corporation, and
• Beijing Urban Construction Group.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operation and maintenance basis.

Mohamed Saeed, Economic Minister, stated:

We'll open the documents this week. Then only we'll know the details. We expect to open for bids in a month or so, and award the project to a company and start the work before the end of the year.

The project will improve the connectivity and mobility of the populations in the greater-Male' region and facilitate the development of Hulhumale' to its full potential.

In early January we published that the Government of the Republic of Maldives had extended the last date of submission of Expressions of Interest for the DBFMO Male'-Hulhule bridge project. The new deadline was 12th January 2014, extended from 29 December 2013.