Afcons conducting own assessment of damages to Villimale’ reef

India’s Afcons Infrastructure undertaking the construction of the Thilamale’ Bridge has requested to conduct their own assessment of the damages sustained by the Vilimale’ reef due to the wrecking of a self-elevating platform used in the construction.

The self-elevating platform wrecked on the Vilimale’ reef on August 16. Three workers were injured in the incident.

It was refloated after nearly two weeks, on August 27. Meanwhile, the cleaning of the debris from the area was completed on September 4. The incident caused severe damage to Vilimale’ reef.

Notably, the company is requesting to do its own survey despite the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) having concluded one already.

When questioned by Sun regarding this on Sunday, the Director General of EPA Ibrahim Naeem said that the request from Afcons was due to them being unhappy about the number of damages in the EPA report.

He further noted that Afcons was given the chance to participate in the EPA’s survey, but instead, representatives of their insurance company took part.

“They said they will take part [in the survey] but ultimately [their] insurance participated.”

Additionally, Naeem said that Afrons' request to conduct an assessment was within the period granted to them to respond to the EPA report. Hence, the company has been asked to provide a response within seven days, of completing the survey.

However, Naeem did not specify when the time period was granted to Afcons.

“Their seven days are currently running.”

In an earlier interview with Sun, Afcon’s Projects Director R.V. Kishor said that the incident was a result of sudden rough seas and strong waves. However, he stressed that it is unlikely the incident will impact the timeline of the whole project.

He went on to state that Afcons will adhere to EPA’s instructions with all matters pertaining to the damage to the reef.

In order to ensure that such an incident does not repeat – Kishor said Afcons have begun paying more attention to weather reports when carrying out marine works.

The construction of the Thilamale’ Bridge was contracted to India’s Afcons Infrastructure on August 26, 2021. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held on August 2, during President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s visit to India.

In an earlier statement, Afcons has the navigational bridge between Male’ City and Vilimale’ being built under the project will be open for traffic in July 2023.

Once done, a 6.74-kilometer-long bridge and causeway link will connect the capital city Male City with adjoining islands of Villimale’, Gulhifalhu, and Thilafushi.