On June 20, a grand handover ceremony was held for the Maldives Vinares housing units project (phase-III), undertaken by CMEC Group Headquarters (CMEC). The handover of the project was witnessed by Faisal Nasym, vice president of the Republic of Maldives, Yu Xueyong, Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in the Maldives, and Wang Bo, chairman of CMEC Group. Abdullah Shaheed, president of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Maldives, delivered a video message at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to congratulate the project on its smooth handover.

The ceremony was also attended by Aishat Azma, Ambassador of the Maldives to China; Muhammad Aslam, Minister of National Planning and Housing and Infrastructure; Ahmed Latif, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Aishath Nahuela, Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation; Hussain Shaheen, Majority Leader of the People’s Majlis; Ali Niazi, Member of Parliament for Hurumale Island; Muhammad Hamed, Director General of the National Police; Apdul Sharif, Director General of Customs; Ibra Muhammad Didi, Chairman of the Electricity Authority; Muhammad Shariff, Deputy General Manager of the Water Authority, and other members of the Maldivian Cabinet and dignitaries.

Lu Zhinan, vice president of Guangxi Branch of China Development Bank, and Zhou Shangzhi, deputy general manager of the First Business Department of China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, attended the handover ceremony at the Beijing venue. Tong Zigang, deputy general manager of CMEC, Zhang Zhiliang, CFO of CMEC, and leaders of relevant subcontractors attended the handover ceremony via video link.

Mr. Wang Bo expressed his gratitude to the two governments, embassies, consulates and financial institutions for their assistance in implementing the phase-III housing project. “After the completion and delivery of the phase-III housing project, more than 10,000 local people will relocate to new homes, enjoy the fruits of the Belt and Road Initiative, and experience their modern, high-quality homes built by Chinese companies,” said Wang. He said that CMEC Group will continue to promote unity, cooperation, connectivity and common development to meet the goal of high standard, sustainability and people’s wellbeing in the Maldives in a bid to contribute more to comprehensive bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Sohail Ahmed, general manager of the project owner HDC, thanked CMEC for its efforts in the project. He said that CMEC’s project team overcame the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, worked closely with HDC’s local departments, and completed the high-quality project, which has demonstrated the hard-working ethos and excellent performance of a Chinese enterprise.

Lu Zhinan and Zhou Shangzhi made speeches affirming CMEC Group’s achievements in the infrastructure and people’s living of the Maldives. They also said that they would continue to pay attention to and support the expansion of the Group’s business and strengthen the underpinning of financial institutions for developing subsequent projects.

Mr. Abdullah Shaheed sent a video speech from the United Nations Headquarters to congratulate the project on its success. He expressed great appreciation for CMEC’s vital role in the China-Maldives economic and trade relations over the past 13 years. He also thanked CMEC for its contributions to the long-lasting friendship between the two peoples and the improvement of people’s living in the Maldives. Meanwhile, he congratulated China and the Maldives on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, stressing that the housing project would benefit more people in the Maldives and build a stronger friendship between the two countries in the future.

Mr. Yu Xueyong congratulated on the smooth handover of the project. He said that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, CMEC Group completed the high-quality project, demonstrating the big-picture and responsible sense of Chinese enterprises, despite multiple difficulties in logistics and personnel rotation. Yu conveyed the full recognition of the Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives Wang Lixin for CMEC Group’s efforts and achievements in the economic and trade cooperation between China and the Maldives. Also, he thanked the Maldivian side for the strong support and initiative-taking collaboration for the Chinese enterprise in implementing the project. He believed that, through the joint efforts of the business communities of the two countries, the China-Maldives economic and trade cooperation will yield more fruits.

Mr. Muhammad Aslam addressed the ceremony. He said that China and the Maldives has a long history of friendship. In recent years, the China-Maldives cooperation has gone deeper. The two countries have achieved promising results in housing, infrastructure, transport, and energy. CMEC is China’s first international engineering company to be deeply involved in housing and infrastructure construction in the Maldives, he said. Since the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the Maldivian Ministry of Housing and CMEC for 4,000 housing units for the benefit of citizens on August 25, 2009, CMEC has lived up to its commitment to building high-quality projects. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Maldives, a new chapter has opened for such ties. It is believed that the China-Maldives cooperation will yield new results in the future.

Witnessed by Faisal Nasym and Yu Xueyong, the project handover document was signed by both heads. Mr. Nasym, accompanied by heads of CMEC’s relevant departments, visited houses.

Before attending the project handover ceremony, Wang Bo held talks with Aishat Azma to conduct in-depth exchanges on the cooperation between CMEC Group and the Maldives in various fields.

Heads of CMEC’s relevant departments participated in this event.

Background

In 2009, CMEC and the Maldives government signed a memorandum of understanding for the 4,000-unit housing project, which would be completed in three phases. The phase-I project was delivered at the end of 2012. The phase-II was inaugurated by President Xi Jinping in September 2014 and completed and handed over in 2017. According to President Xi Jinping’s instruction of building quality houses for the Maldivian people, the phase-III project department used homemade high-quality furnishing materials and techniques based on the original projects to provide supporting facilities to residents. The project was delivered in June 2022.