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Housing Minister confirms China-Maldives Friendship Bridge for August opening

Housing Minister Dr. Mohamed Muizzu on Thursday has assured China-Maldives Friendship Bridge linking the island capital with its international airport island will be opening before the end of August.

Speaking during a press conference on Thursday housing minister claimed bridge will complete its structure by July 9 thus linking Maldives capital with Hulhule' island.

Following this housing minister added all works attached to the bridge including ring-road development will draw towards an eventual completion by end of August.

According to Dr. Muizzu the initial contract signed between Maldives government and China's CCCC Second Harbor Development cited project completion date as September 25. However the contractor came forth to push the completion date ahead to July 26 since the date marks Maldives Independence Day.

Though contractor had proposed to work towards completing the project by July 26, the date was not put on official accounts as actual opening date argued housing minister.

However, Dr. Muizzu noted that though CMFB will not be opening on July, it is still slated for opening a month ahead of initially expected date.

Housing Minister had also reasoned the increased pace of project completion did not hinder its quality. Dr. Muizzu may have explained this due to looming questions regarding the bridge structure's strength and durability.

Dr. Muizzu noted the bridge construction's supervision or monitoring has been assigned to world renowned UK professional services firm Arup Group.