Road Development Corporation contracted to build roads of Velana International Airport

Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Road Development Corporation, contracting them to conduct all work related to the building of roads in Velana International Airport.

The agreement was signed on Saturday, March 16, by MACL CEO and Managing Director Ibrahim Shareef Mohamed and RDC Managing Director Ali Zuhair.

MACL said that as per the agreement, RDC will be resurfacing and repairing the roads of the airport.

RDC will also be responsible for regular road maintenance, repairing of any pits formed through wear and tear, water drainage to avoid flooding of roads, as well as drawing line markings on the roads.

RDC will also ensure the infrastructure maintenance and cleaning required to prevent flooding is kept completed, while also cleaning pavements and other locations identified by MACL for its uses, and disposing of waste collected through these initiatives.

MACL MD Shareef said that this is the first time the company has contracted a local company to conduct this work.

He noted that although MACL does have its own internal team for road repairs, they are engaged in other work and in emergency situations are forced to abandon their daily duties to fulfill these responsibilities. This poses challenges in handling the work internally, he said.

"MACL is a place that runs a municipality, a city and an airport. Our hope is that your expertise and your manpower will lend extra speed to these three endeavours," he said.

RDC MD Zuhair, meanwhile, expressed gratitude to MACL, describing this project as an opportunity to expand their capabilities.

"We believe that when projects like this are granted to local companies, we, too, can work as well as, or even better than, foreign companies. I believe that RDC too can be built up to be a strong company like MACL, and that is the target I am working towards," he said.