Month: November 2010

GMR era begins at Male’ International Airport amidst political wrangling

After months of political wrangling and counter allegations, as the clock turned one minute past midnight this morning Indian infrastructure giant GMR took the reins of Male’ International Airport as part of an overhaul it claims will help “increase the brand value” of the Maldives.

In a consortium with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), GMR says it will kick start a 180 day programme to try and improve service, efficiency and profitability of the site ahead of an US$511m expansion project that includes the construction of a new airport terminal by 2014.

The airport consortium, which saw off competition from a number of rival bids to win a long-standing contract to privatise the running of the country’s central transport hub, made a point of trying to offset concerns about the intention of foreign ownership and its potential impact on Maldivian workers.

“The airport belongs to the people of the Maldives,” said Kiran Kumar Grandhi, Business Chairman of Airports for the GMR Group at a function to commemorate the new management structure. “This consortium hopes to bring the best of technology and architecture and service to the airport.”

A coalition of opposition political parties formed an alliance back in June designed to try and protest against the deal on the grounds of nationalistic interests that included mps from the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Jumhooree Party (JP) and the People’s Alliance (PA).

However, speaking during today’s handover ceremony on Hulhule’ Island, Mahmood Razee, Minister of Economic Development and a Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) member, claimed that the privatisation of the airport is aimed to directly benefit Maldivians as well as foreign travellers.

“It [the airport] belongs to all of us, to all Maldivians,” he said.

Razee stressed that the government would therefore continue to work with the shareholders of the airport consortium even under “difficult circumstances” such as parliamentary debate and legal wrangling. The Minister of Economic Development added that he views privatisation across the nation’s transport networks and economy as vital for future development.

“We have worked with the private sector,” he added. “We will continue to work with the private sector.”

The comments were echoed by President Mohamed Nasheed who said that the levels of requirement investment required at the airport, which he claimed could be called “the Bucket International Airport”, were substantial.

According to figures given by the president, at least US$300m would have been needed for the development from a government budget that he said was already stretched spending Rf1 billion on existing loans.

As the urgent need to develop the airport was “an undisputed truth” accepted by all, President Nasheed continued, vowing that the government “will not let anyone obstruct the country’s development.”

Airport opposition

DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali told Minivan News that a coalition of political parties formed in opposition to the GMR airport deal remained committed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) focusing on legal recourse to try and prevent the privatisation agreement.

Despite the handover already having taken place this morning, the opposition leader said that the coalition of political parties hasn’t yet “exhausted legal avenues” related to their opposition of the privatisation.

“We simply believe the deal is not in our national or security interests,” Thasmeen said. “With the privatisation of other [existing or soon to be] international airports in the north and south of the country, the state will not have an airport under its control.”

From a stand-alone DRP position, Thasmeen said his party was not strictly against privatisation, but the party would judge any new business propositions put forward by government on a case-by-case basis.

Debate over the issue of privatisation has raged for many months for and against allowing privatisation since GMR and MAHB were first contracted to oversee the airport expansion project back in June.

Deputy Leader of the DRP, Umar Naseer, told Minivan News on June 28 that ” if [the operators] allowed it, an Israeli flight can come and stop over after bombing Arab countries.”

The government has alleged that opposition to the airport deal stems from the “vested interests” of certain MPs, several of whom it arrested following the resignation of cabinet on June 29 in protest against the “scorched earth politics” of the opposition-majority parliament.

Initial 180-day plan

Beyond possible ongoing political and legal discourse, Andrew Harrison, new CEO of GMR Malé International Airport, pointed to greater efficiency in the day-to-day service of the airport as a key focus for the first 180 days of management.

As part of this programme, Harrison announced that an expansion of capacity at the airport was immediately required to allow for more flights to be handled simultaneously. In addition to customer handling capacity, a number of new x-ray scanners and service counters are also set to be provided over the period to speed up waiting times during check in and departure, he claimed.

Beyond operational commitments, Harrison said that the 180 day programme also aims to make a number of changes to the look of the arrivals and departure plaza.

This cosmetic overhaul is expected to include a number of new eateries and retail outlets to be situated across the site and also alongside the waterfront in a bid to boost the “guest experience” and play up the local environment.

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Maldives tops list for global tax payment ease, claims report

The Maldives has topped of the easiest countries in which to pay tax as a result of a narrower stream of revenue focused on tourism and hotels, claims a new report by analysts PricewaterhouseCoopers

The 2011 Paying Taxes study, jointly compiled with the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), found that the more simplified tax revenues of a smaller, hospitality-focused global economy like the Maldives have generally allowed for more effective means of raising government revenue.

PWC accepted that tourism and hospitality are sectors not included among the Doing Business indicators set out by both the IFC and World Bank as part of the basis for the report.

These indicators, which relate particularly to manufacturing economies, are devised to try and rank regulation and red tape that impact taxation and business process.

The report’s authors suggested that the findings are not a measure of the fiscal health of national economies or the provision of public services that may be supported by their tax revenue. However, the inclusion of the Maldives among the nations found to be the easiest to pay tax reflected the importance of keeping systems as “simple and clear” as possible to ensure quick and easy transactions, the authors claimed.

“Compliance with tax laws is important to keep the system working for all and to support the programmes and services that improve lives,” the report stated.

After the Maldives; Qatar, Hong Kong, China and Singapore filled out the report’s top five nations in terms of ease of tax payments. Ukraine, the Central African Republic and Belarus were labelled the three most difficult economies in which to deal with tax payments by the report, which ranked the countries 181st, 182nd and 183rd respectively.

The full report can be downloaded here.

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Maldives awarded “World’s most romantic destination” at World Travel Awards

The Maldives has been designated the “World’s Most Romantic Destination” in the World Travel Awards for the second time, beating other nominees including New York, Paris, Tuscany and Venice.

The destination also won ‘leading cruise destination’ and ‘honeymoon destination’ for the Indian Ocean category.

The World Travel Awards also listed the Maldives as the Leading Cruise Destination and Honeymoon Destination in the Indian Ocean, a regional category where it also scooped the Leading Beach and Leading Island destination gongs.

A number of international resort groups operating in the country were also awarded during the evening, with Adaaran picking up an accolade in competition for the World’s Leading Water Villa title.

Companies Banyan Tree and Six Senses also walked away with awards in the areas of World’s Leading Corporate Social Responsibly programme and Leading Luxury Resort Brand respectively.

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Velezinee proposes motion to ‘confirm sanity’ of JSC Chairman

President Mohamed Nasheed’s member on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Aishath Velezinee, proposed a motion without notice at today’s JSC meeting “to determine if Supreme Court Justice Adam Mohamed Abdulla, current Chairman of the commission, meets the criteria of possessing a sound mind as required by article 139(c) clause three of the constitution.”

The meeting was cancelled when quorum was lost after Velezinee walked out in protest of the Chair’s alleged refusal to acknowledge the motion.

Velezinee’s motion states that Justice Adam Mohamed was exhibiting “symptoms of a person who has lost his mind” and proposed suspending him from the duties of a judge “until a psychiatric evaluation is conducted under state supervision.”

Attached to the motion was a document titled ‘The Serial Bully‘, drawn from the UK-based workplace bullying website detailing the symptoms of “sociopaths and psychopaths”.

Qualities on the list included “self-opinionated, emotionally retarded, deceptive, superior sense of entitlement and untouchability, financially untrustworthy, overbearing belief in their qualities of leadership, is spiritually dead although may loudly profess some religious belief or affiliation” and “may pursue a vindictive vendetta against anyone who dares to held them accountable.”

Velezinee claimed that the Chair was “systematically evading” the matter of appointing an interview panel to approve judges to the High Court bench, almost two months after the deadline for applications elapsed.

Moreover, as the JSC was yet to adopt a standard operating procedure – the deadline for which passed on January 26 – commission meetings were “under the will and whim of the Chair who refuses to permit the Secretary General to perform independently and exercise absolute control over the working of the Commission.

“As it is JSC can only discuss and decide what the Chair permits, and that, it has become increasingly evident, is nothing,” she said.

While the High Court bench currently has four judges, a three-judge bench is needed to conduct hearings.

Sincerity

Following the cancelled meeting, Ahmed Rasheed, representative of the law community on the JSC, expressed concern with the slow pace of the commission’s functioning.

Rasheed said that the growing backlog of pending tasks “raises questions about the sincerity of some members.”

On November 9, Rasheed joined Velezinee, General Public Member Shuaib Abdul Rahman and Attorney General Dr Ahmed Sawad to lodge letters of protest with the JSC after the Chair did not attend a meeting he had called.

Other members of the commission, Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid, MP Afrashim Ali, Civil Service Commission President Mohamed Fahmy Hassan and Judge Abdulla Didi, did not attend the meeting as well.

Velezinee also walked out of the meeting last Sunday, the first one after the 10-day public holiday, claiming the Chair refused to let her speak on the High Court appointments as it was not on the agenda.

Responding to the criticism of his handling of JSC meetings, Justice Adam Mohamed told Minivan News today that he did not refuse to table Velezinee’s motion.

“I saw the motion when I came to the meeting,” he said. “But when I started the meeting and tried to read out the agenda, she interrupted me, got angry and walked off.”

Justice Adam Mohamed also dismissed accusations that he was holding up JSC tasks, explaining that he has called for a number of meetings in past weeks in excess of the legal requirement of one meeting per month.

On the delay to the standard operating procedure and High Court appointments, the Supreme Court Justice said that the deadlines had elapsed when he assumed the chair in late August.

“If they are so concerned about it, they could have passed it since they have been on the commission for all that time,” he said.

Following the end of the interim period in early August, a new Supreme Court bench was hastily instituted by parliament, resulting in a hiatus for the commission until new members along with a new Chair could be appointed.

Justice Adam Mohamed revealed that the current agenda for JSC meetings was “two-pages long”, stressing that while he has authority to order items, “members have the discretion to prioritize an item if everyone wished.”

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Dr Afrashim Ali meanwhile arrived at today’s meeting 20 minutes after it began and left shortly afterward.

Asked for a comment on the issues, Dr Afrashim explained that he only grants interview “if it is going to be shown live on TV”.

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2020 Carbon Neutral failure would be “disaster for Maldives”: President

Failure by the Maldives to become carbon neutral by 2020 would be a “complete disaster” for the country, President Mohamed Nasheed today warned during a government unveiling of an audit of the nation’s carbon footprint.

The Maldives’ 2009 Carbon Audit aimed to compile the country’s current carbon footprint in relation to its current energy reliance. The document was fully funded by France-based financier La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild, which will also help to outline and find funding for a “Carbon Neutral Master Plan” to help the country set up how it can begin to meet its aims.

The 2009 audit, which was carried out by BeCitizen, an environmental consultancy based in Paris, France, found that 1.3 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) was emitted by the Maldives, with about of half of these emissions coming from diesel power generation.

These emissions corresponded to 4.1 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per individual. By way of comparison, India records 1.7 per person per year, China 5.5, France 9 and the United States 23.5.

Domestic transportation on both land and sea contributed 22 percent of the nations CO2 output during 2009, with the fishing industry and waste treatment processes amounting for 13 and 15 percent of the total output respectively, the audit added.

BeCitizen, of which La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild is a major shareholder, says that in looking ahead to developing a ten year strategy for a national low-carbon overhaul, six main areas needed to be focused on. These focuses include ensuring greater energy efficiency –such as in more efficient domestic appliances and thermal insulation – and the practical use of renewable energy forms like solar and wind power.

The environmental consultancy also pointed to adopting greener forms of transport, waste management programmes and carbon sequestration in areas such as biomass as important focus points to try and cut the existing environmental impact fo the Maldives.

Speaking via a live link up, BeCitizen’s Flora Bernard claimed that it would be possible for the government to become carbon neutral tomorrow if it simply relied on offsetting to compensate for its total carbon footprint.

Offsetting is the practice of engaging in development projects that can provide both provide benefits both to society as well as the climate – such as planting of forests in an attempt to reduce CO2 within the air.
However, Bernard added that such actions were “missing the point” and that a focus on finding sufficient alternatives would be needed.

“Achieving carbon neutrality by 2020 is possible,” said Bernard in a statement. “It will primarily involve the country becoming energy-independent, while ensuring that the solutions also bring other environmental benefits in terms of carbon storage, resource management and biodiversity conservation.”

The high profile of the Maldives’ sustainable aims meant a failure to meet such goals would be unthinkable, Nasheed said.

With the Maldives a key model for other countries seeking to become more sustainable, an inability to meet the unilateral commitments would prove detrimental to wider arguments around the globe for adopting law carbon initiatives, Nasheed said.

If the country did, then “God help us”, the President said. His carbon neutral pledge is thought to be the toughest set out by any nation under the January 2010 Copenhagen Accord.

Despite having yet to pass a 2011 budget for the country within local parliament, Nasheed said that funding for the carbon neutral scheme would come from garnering interest in development among the private sector.

Pointing to a number of inhabited islands in the country without sufficient electrical supplies, he claimed that new investment projects could look beyond traditional fossil fuels as a source of energy to lower carbon alternatives without setting back development.

The President added that with a number of countries showing an interest in low carbon economics, or concern about the potential impact of global warming, there was a generally strong global political desire to find alternative energy investments and solutions.

Within the currently fractious domestic politics of the Majlis, a source in the President’s Office said that the argument for adopting and committing to a so-called Carbon Neutral Master Plan would need to be “well structured” to make it through parliament.

However, the source claimed that the president hoped the potential economic benefits of adopting more renewable power sources could be a strong incentive for business and political interests if efficient solutions could be found. The need to move away from the often volatile market of fossil fuels was described as another key concern for the country.

Just last week, environmental organisation Greenpeace told Minivan News that the Maldives acted more as a symbol than a practical demonstration of how national development and fighting climate change can be mutually exclusive.

Wendel Trio, Climate Policy and Global Deal Coordinator for Greenpeace International, believed that the Maldives can nonetheless play an iconic role in promoting the potential benefits of adopting alternate energy programmes.

In looking specifically at the Maldives being elected as Co-Chair of the SCF, the Greenpeace spokesperson accepted that the country is somewhat limited by its size in the role it can have as an advocate for more sustainable business and lifestyles.

“By coupling both strong words and the need for the big emitting countries in the developed and the developing world to reduce their emissions sharply, with a strong commitment at home, the Maldives has gained respect,” Trio explained.

“However, obviously none of the big emitting countries are looking at the Maldives as an example, as they all claim that their social and economic development cannot be compared to that of a small island state.”

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Kuredhoo staff allege female worker dismissed for wearing headscarf

Staff working at Kuredhoo Island Resort have alleged that the resort five months ago issued a notice stating that it would not be renewing the contracts of female staff members wearing the headscarf, and had since dismissed at least one staff member over the matter.

A staff member currently working at the resort told Minivan News that a notice regarding the matter was issued by the resort five months ago.

“There was a female staff member who wore the headscarf who was asked to leave her job two months ago because the resort’s management refused to renew her employment contract [because] she wears a headscarf,” he claimed.

A second staff member Minivan News spoke to also claimed the resort had notified staff that it would not renew the contracts of staff wearing the headscarf.

The allegation first appeared on the Dhivehi Post news blog, which quoted a female staff member at the resort as saying that elderly women living on a nearby island, employed by the resort for cleaning jobs, were issued the same notice.

Human Resources Manager at Kuredhoo Khadeeja Adam said she did not wish to comment on the matter and referred Minivan News to the resort’s General Manager.

Kuredhoo’s General Manager Andrea Nestle also refused to comment on the matter, but said the allegations she had read in her translation of the Dhivehi Post report were incorrect. She referred Minivan News to the head of Champa Trade and Travels in Male’, Abdulla Saleem.

Saleem told Minivan News that the resort policy was established by the resort’s management team, and said he had nothing to do with the policy.

”The management team works very independently and we have no influence on them,” he said.

Secretary General of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), Mohamed ‘Sim’ Ibrahim, told Minivan News that the issue was a “very sensitive” one, “because some [guests] get a bit taken aback. Some are a bit worried about it because they associate the dress with fundamentalism and militant Islam.”

“We don’t want to encourage people to wear the full burqa when they are serving tourists at the front desk, the first line of contact with guests,” he said.“But we don’t have a problem with them working in the office, or in general. It’s up to the resort owner.”

He noted that the right to wear the headscarf was a fundamental right, but that it was also a legal right for a resort to designate its own uniform and dress code.

The issue of discrimination, he noted, had led to “huge problems” in countries such as France.

A French law passed in 2004 banning the display of religious affiliation in schools, including dress and iconography, sparked protests across the Muslim world and also in countries such as the United States which expressed concern that the restrictions violated the France’s international human rights commitments.

In September 2010, the French Senate passed a bill 246 to 1 making it illegal to wear veils covering the face, with fines of €150 for women and €30,000 for men who forced their wives to do so, doubled in the case of minors.

Amnesty International condemned the French bill as a violation of freedom of expression.

“States have an obligation under international law to respect the human rights of everyone without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status; to protect them against abuses of those rights by third parties, including by private actors within their families or communities; and to ensure they are able to exercise those rights in practice,” the international humanitarian organisation claimed.

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Workers’ group hopes for strike bill committee amendments

The Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) claims it remains hopeful that the passing of a bill to the National Security Committee regulating industrial action by resort workers can still be amended from its current form.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Easa, president of TEAM, told Minivan News that the worker’s group was now waiting to see if amendments relating to the bill made during the committee hearing would address concerns realting to the impact on the right to strike.

In August, the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) submitted the bill to parliament aimed to regulate industrial action conducted by employees in the Maldives, shortly after a strike at Kurumba resort reduced occupancy to zero.

Parliamentary debate over the bill has obtained both fierce opposition and support from figures across the lucrative tourist industry over arguments that current unregulated strike action is detrimental to travel income.

While Easa claims to be in support of a bill that would provide rules and regulations outlining how workers should conduct strike action, the MP believes the current bill is not such a document, but rather “is mainly drafted to stop strikes.”

The MP argues that the bill in its current form would be unconstitutional and contravene article 31 of the constitution that gives Maldivians the right to strike and article 16 relating to human rights.

It is these arguments that TEAM will hope to pursue in the committee in a bid to amend the bill to set out regulations that it would be willing to back in realation to acceptable strike practice.

The TEAM President claims that he remains more in hope, than optimism that changes will be made to the bill, alleging possible vested resort industry interests within the committee that spans numerous political parties including the MDP and the opposition.

However, should the bill return to the Majlis unchanged, Easa claims he would notify both the President’s Office and the international community in the form of organisations and political bodies like the UN and EU about his concerns.

“The bill is totally against democracy,” he adds. “What we are looking for are regulations that accept that there has to be a reason to strike, and this is how it should be done.

Secretary General of industry body the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), Sim Mohamed Ibrahim, said that the organisation, which reprsents a number of the country’s major resort groups, were not looking to prevent strikes. However, he added that the association was looking to prevent strikes from taking place directly on private resort property.

“No striking on the resort is a fundamental right of the owner,” he said. “You don’t strike on the shop floor.”

Sim added that although there may be reasons for workers to strike, these points should not be made in a manner that “inconveniences tourists”. The Secretary General added that this stance need not preclude striking in different environments to the resort.

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EC publishes voter registry for council elections

The Elections Commission (EC) has published the list of eligible voters for the upcoming local council elections on February 5, 2011.

The commission announced yesterday that complaint forms regarding registry issues will now be available from its website and office as well as island and atoll offices.

Following a verification process, an updated list will be published in the government gazette at a later date.

Meanwhile, candidates have been invited to lodge applications starting 9am tomorrow to 4pm on December 8.

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Taliban true to Islamic Ideology, claims Pakistani Tourism Minister

Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Tourism has said that the Taliban truly represent Islamic ideology, resulting in their vilification by the United States of America, according to local media reports in the country.

Maulana Attaur Rehman was reported by the Pakistan-based newspaper Dawn to have made the claims at a public gathering in the country this week, claiming terrorism cannot be defeated unless the US and the world gave respect and equal rights to “the muslims”.

Rehman is a member of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party, the newspaper adds.

“Ulema and Taliban are the true followers of Islamic ideology and America is the biggest terrorist of the world, which is creating hatred against them,” said Rehman.

“It is a misconception that ulema and Taliban are against coexistence of people with different religions, in fact it is America which is against the interfaith harmony to maintain its hegemony on the world,” he added.

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