The Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure has announced that lanes on the Sinamalé Bridge will be closed starting Monday.

The ministry said that some of the lanes on the bridge, connecting capital city Malé to Hulhulé, are to be closed at select times.

The closure is so that construction personnel can remove platform files installed around and at the base of the bridge.

The Maldives Police Service’s traffic unit will be informing the public on closures, the ministry said.

An estimated USD 210 million has been spent on developing the bridge, of which no less than 126 million is grant in aid from the Chinese government. The Maldivian government had spent 12 million.

Construction of the bridge is fully assigned to the China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd., the subsidiary of a construction enterprise owned by the Chinese state. This is the same company that built the 24-km ‘Penang Second Bridge’ in Malaysia. About a 1,000 of their employees have been active in the Maldives.