The main opposition parties on Sunday night expressed concern about the public's lack of access to the engineering designs for the Malé-Thilafushi bridge.
The project is developed by Indian-based company Afcons Infrastructure.
Parliament member for Maavashu constituency, Mohamed Saeed, said at a public gathering held by the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and People's National Congress (PNC) coalition that it was concerning that the designs have yet to be seen by the public.
He added that, as far as he knows, no employee of the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has seen the designs either.
Saeed, who is also Vice President of PNC, alleged that Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam does not believe that Afcons is capable of developing the bridge that connects Malé, Villimalé, Thilafushi, and Gulhifalhu. This is the biggest infrastructural project undertaken by this administration.
"I have spoken to a person in the housing ministry over this issue. Even they [housing ministry employees] are worried because the engineering designs have not been shown to anyone," he said.
He went on to say that no one has seen it and questioned the possibility of its existence.
He claimed that the Maldivian engineers have said that Indian engineers lacked the technology to build bridges that cross the sea. He expressed further concern about the fact that Afcon had never built a bridge across the sea before.
"Housing minister believes this as well. This cannot be denied. Housing minister believes India cannot accomplish this," Saeed alleged.
While addressing the crowd gathered at the opposition coalition's main party hub, Saeed also said that the government was spending twice the amount of money on this project than the previous administration had spent on the Sinamalé bridge that connects Malé and Hulhumalé.
He said that the incumbent government had already spent more than USD 600 million to build the Thilamalé Bridge and that over 10 bridges similar to the Sinamalé Bridge could be built for the same price.
The Thilamalé Bridge project is valued at USD 500 million (MVR 7.7 billion). It is financed by a line-of-credit amounting to USD 400 million released to Maldives by India's Exim Bank, and USD 100 million of financial aid provided by India. The government has taken an additional USD 100 million in line-of-credit facilities to fast-track projects by India, including the bridge project.
Before the project began, the housing ministry released animated drawings of the Thilamalé bridge. The government stated at the time that the detailed designs for the bridge had not been completed. The construction process began in January of this year, but the design of the bridge had not been discussed since.
The housing ministry was unavailable for comment regarding the engineering designs of this project.
While the opposition has expressed concerns about the bridge, the government also faces public criticism for the delays in the project. Some of the recent accidents that occurred during the bridge's construction have also raised concerns about Afcons' ability to oversee the mega-project.
The fine imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the damage caused to Villimalé reef in August by an Afcons platform has been appealed by the company. They have requested to reduce or revise the MVR 69 million fine issued against them.
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