No lane missing from China-funded bridge, president says

President Mohamed Muizzu has said on Friday evening that former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom tried not to open the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge due to issues with the driving lanes on it, but that there are no missing lanes on the bridge.

The president was responding to a question on reports that Yameen had reprimanded Muizzu, the then Housing Minister until he had been reduced to tears over missing one lane on the bridge.

The lane issue was mentioned in an exclusive interview given to Sangu TV recently by parliament’s Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdullah.

In the president’s exclusive interview with Sangu TV on Friday evening, Muizzu said that Abdul Raheem had explained the matter very briefly and he was happy to have the opportunity to clarify it further.

Explaining how it happened, the President said he was awarded the bridge in October 2014. He had not been involved in the project before and he only knows what happened after he took over the project.

No changes had been made to the project since it was handed over to the Ministry of Housing, he maintained.

"The number of lanes has not changed at any stage. From the first time I took over, there were only two lanes," he said.

"Then the bicycle section was included. It was about an additional metre. It was because they wanted to expand the limit for heavy vehicles. First it was 20 metres and then [they added] 21 metres”.

Explaining the issue, the President said the project was about a month away from completion when Yameen said there should be a separate lane for cyclists. It was not included in the design of the project beforehand and the project was nearing completion, so it could not be done at the time he said.

He himself has held a lot of discussions with the Chinese government to change that. Yameen was not satisfied with it, the President said.

The President added:

"During this I was really affected. [Abdul Raheem] was right. I cried," he said.

The President said he had not given up even then and had called Yameen when he returned home and asked him to reconsider his decision not to inaugurate the project and pleaded with him to consider the impact such a decision would have on bilateral relations. The President said Yameen agreed to open the bridge at that point.

"Then he said it's fine to continue as it is now. There's no problem if speed breakers are installed. Then “I’d already brought in speed breakers. Then install the speed breakers and move on. That's what happened and that's when he agreed. Nothing more happened, that’s it," he added.

The President said he had visited the work site once a month to check the progress of the bridge and he was always trying to do it as well as possible since it was a responsibility he was entrusted with.

He worked to improve the quality within the given time frame and within the budget. As a result, the project was completed two months ahead of scheduled.