The construction project for the New Ribeira d’Água Bridge surged following the collapse of the old bridge, bearing the same name, destroyed by the intense floods of 26 September 2012.

The disintegration of this bridge, which served as the sole link between the City of Sal Rei and the locality of Rabil, where the International Airport "Aristides Pereira” is located, severed the links between the populations of the North and the South, the harbour and the hotels and the City of Sal Rei.

Given the emerging need to re-establish this link, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Maritime Economy of the Republic of Cape Verde charged the Cape-Verdean branch of MonteAdriano Engenharia e Construção SA to proceed with the reconstruction of the New Ribeira d’Água Bridge, at the same section of river where the old bridge had stood, reinstating the link between the City of Sal Rei and the locality of Rabil.