A memorandum of understanding on promoting the construction of the bridge was signed between the two governments during this week's state visit to the Maldives by China’s president.

The Chinese government said that it will ‎encourage Chinese companies to invest in the Maldives and that it will consider providing financial support for ‎the construction of the bridge.‎

The bridge has been tendered as a public-private partnership project with a bidding deadline of June this year but the results of the process have not yet been announced. The cost of the project was put at between US$70 million and US$100 million in 2011.