On Thursday Maldives signed an agreement with India for the implementation of the Greater Male Connectivity Project, the largest infrastructure initiative in the island nation.
As per the sources, they will build a bridge which will be 6.74-km-long and causeway link in order to connect the capital city Male with adjoining islands of Villingli, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi.
Largest infrastructure project of Maldives
According to Maldives, this will be the largest infrastructure project funded under a grant of USD 100 million and a line of Credit of USD 400 million from India, said the officials.
The contract was signed between the Infrastructure of the Maldives and Afcons Infrastructure Ltd and the Ministry of National Planning, Housing.
“This is a defining moment in the development journey of the Maldives,” Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid posted on Twitter.
Connecting people, and countries!
Delighted that the contract for the Greater Male’ Connectivity – Male’ to Thilafushi Link Project has been signed between @MoNPHImv & Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. This is a defining moment in the development journey of the #Maldives.”, tweet read by Abdulla Shahid.
About the signing ceremony
The signing ceremony was attended by Indian High Commissioner Sunjay Sudhir, Mohamed Aslam, the Minister of National Planning & Infrastructure, Fayyaz Ismail, the Minister of Economic Development, Ibrahim Ameer, the Minister of Finance and Aishath Nahula, the Minister of Transportation.
As per the sources, the Maldivian foreign minister thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in several tweets for their support in the development of the Maldives.
“India is proud to be a key development partner of Maldives. Deeply committed to its national progress,” Jaishankar tweeted in his response.
The project is a key emerging pillar of the India-Maldives relationship
The Greater Male Connectivity Project is a key to strengthening the India-Maldives relationship that includes New Delhi which provided a Line of Credit of over USD 1.2 billion for the development of infrastructure and grants for development of communities in the island nation.
India also helped Maldives by the early supply of vaccines during the covid 19 pandemic.
The Maldives was the first country to be benefited by India’s Vaccine Maitri initiative. As per the reports, India has supplied 300,000 doses of Covishield and 200,000 out of them were gifted.
