The Thilafushi Port Development Project has entered a new stage, with Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) now calling on interested companies to come forward and supply the facilities the future port will need to function.
MPL’s call covers a wide scope of work — from administrative and operational facilities to cargo handling, warehousing, utilities, safety, welfare and logistics infrastructure. Together, these will support a port designed to run continuously, built around a container terminal, several multi-purpose terminals, cold storage capacity and bonded warehouses for goods that need careful handling.
Applications close at 2:00 p.m. on 10 September. MPL says it will consider bids from single companies as well as joint ventures, though any joint venture must name a lead partner upfront. Evaluators will weigh the combined track record, technical strength and financial footing of everyone involved in a joint bid.
This tender is one piece of a much larger undertaking: moving the Maldives’ commercial port operations out of Malé entirely and into Thilafushi. President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has made the relocation, targeted for completion by 11 November next year, a signature economic promise of his administration — one meant to finally free the capital’s port from the space constraints it has wrestled with for years.
Financially, the project sits at around USD 250 million and is advancing phase by phase. A 60-metre quay wall built for handling empty containers is already finished. Still ahead are a 100-metre quay wall for international shipping and a 650-metre wall for domestic vessels, plus the surrounding basin and channel infrastructure. Notably, the international quay wall will be dredged to 14.3 metres — deep enough to let large foreign cargo ships dock and unload directly.
The finished facility is meant to position the Maldives with a genuinely modern port: multi-purpose, internationally compliant, and equipped with current-generation port technology.
