Month: December 2011

J Hotels and Resorts to sue government

J Hotels and Resorts intends to sue the government “at length” over the Cabinet’s decision to terminate the contract for Laamu Gan Asseyri Project, which was awarded in October.

Company chairman and former ruling party MP Abdulla Jabir said no explanation for the termination was given, and claimed it was not the first time that the Cabinet had retracted a decision.  He said he had “strong suspicions” of corrupt dealings.

“There are ruling party members who decided that they want the project, so they forced the President to terminate my contract through the Cabinet. The Cabinet is unfit to operate, it is just playing games on its high chair in the Maldives,” Jabir said.

The project was won via bidding and awarded on October 12 of this year. It includes a 50-year lease of 25 hectares for the development of hotels and 79 guest houses containing a total of 1,500 beds. Restaurants, spas and sports facilities were also included in the project plan.

Originally, a joint venture company was to be created with the government, which would earn a five percent share, and J Hotels and Resorts. State Minister for Tourism Thoyyib Mohamed was previously reported saying the government preferred a private party to develop and manage the whole project, but the ministry had a ‘Plan B’ to lease out separate components of the project to different parties.

According to the government gazette the Cabinet decided to terminate the contract on November 29, and has lately decided to re-open the bidding process.

Minister of Tourism Mariyam Zulfa was unavailable for comment, however Permanent Secretary Ahmed Solih said the ministry had sent its reply to J Hotels and emphasised that the issue now lies between the Ministry and the company.

Jabir warned that the Cabinet’s decision was one of several factors that was causing a dip in investor confidence.

“These are expensive games, for the investors and for the Maldivian people,” he said. “The government is losing credibility doing this. I am disappointed that the Maldivian government is dishonoring its agreement.”

According to Jabir, the contract between J Hotels and the Ministry of Tourism was valid under Maldivian contract law.

“We have incurred losses of income and opportunity, and our lawyer is assessing those losses now,” Jabir said, reiterating that the company plans to sue the government.

He further claims that a contract cannot be terminated unilaterally, as the Cabinet has done, and that the government cannot accept bids for a project which is the active subject of a lawsuit.

Jabir was unable to provide further details regarding losses incurred.

Last week, the Cabinet instructed the Attorney General’s Office to monitor allegations of corruption made against the government, and file defamation lawsuits where such allegations were proven unfounded.

The Cabinet’s request follows growing concern that some such allegations are being made for political purposes. Meanwhile, the acrobatics of local politics could have a detrimental effect on foreign investment.

At the same time, the government has been tasked with improving its latest ratings in Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which were less than favorable.

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President defends traditional Maldivian Islam as parliament endorses Bari as Islamic Minister

The parliament has approved the reappointment of Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari as Minister for Islamic Affairs, in a narrow vote 38 in favour 35 against.

Dr Bari was first appointed to the position under a coalition agreement made between the government and the religious Adhaalath Party, resigned on the party’s request after it made the decision to break the agreement t over the government’s religious policy.

Opposition parties have earlier said their MPs in the parliament would  not vote in favor of Dr Bari and that he would be dismissed. A parliament committee that looked into the issue has meanwhile dismissed his reappointment and will submit a report on the matter.

Adhaalath made a further move today to sever its connection with the government, dismissing its former President and current State Islamic Minister Sheikh Hussein Rasheed. Sheikh Hussein had been also asked to resign by the party following its split with the MDP, but had elected to remain in the government.

Speaking to Minivan News, Sheikh Hussein said that he had received a letter from the Adhaalath Party yesterday informing him that he had been dismissed from the party for acting against the party’s ideas.

”The people will know the work I have done for Adhaalath Party,” he said. “When the party was first established there was no one that had the courage to take the lead so I did. No one had the courage to go and take the party registration form but I went and took it,” Sheikh Rasheed explained. ”That was the time when the former President and scholars were under great influence and threat of being imprisoned.”

Now, he said, the party was under the influence of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Sheikh Hussein said the VTV television station, owned by opposition-aligned MP and tourism tycoon Gasim Ibrahim, had reported his dismissal from the Adhaalath Party before the decision had even been taken by the disciplinary committee.

He said that when the party asked him to resign from his position, he only told the party his view on the matter.

“Dr Bari and I are working independently in the Ministry, free from influence,” he said. ”If I If I have violated any regulations there will be actions taken, but the party’s Disciplinary Committee needs to be investigated first.”

”We created the party with a very good intention. It was to go forward with the country and citizens and to serve the religion. But that is not the direction in which that party is moving now,” he said.

Sheikh Hussein said he had not yet decided to join another party, and was currently awaiting word from the Elections Commission on the matter.

Dr Bari and President of Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Government stands up

President Mohamed Nasheed has meanwhile defended Islam and Maldivian culture and traditions, ahead of an opposition-backed religious protest on December 23. The website promoting the protest briefly called for the “slaughter” of “anyone against Islam”, slogans which were subsequently removed and blamed on a “technical mistake”, “hackers” and later, “intelligence officials”.

Nasheed has claimed that religious protesters are trying to implement Islamic Sharia penalties such as stoning, amputation and execution – penalties which have traditionally been pardoned by the Maldivian judicial system.

Speaking at a rally held on Saturday evening, Nasheed defended traditional cultural practices such as playing and listening to music and the role of women in society, noting that “women have been in the Maldivian workforce as long as men.”

He  called on political parties to publicly state which form of Islam they supported: “the Islam we have been practicing in this country for several hundred years, or a new faction of Islam.”

Protest organisers President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Imran Abdullah, and Abdullah Mohamed, head of a coalition of religious NGOs organising the protest, were questioned by police on December 13.
Press Secretary of the President’s Office, Mohamed Zuhair, today claimed that “former President Gayoom, the Adhaalath Party and religious extremists are whipping up hatred, intolerance and xenophobia for political purposes. They hope to topple the government from the streets because they can’t defeat it through the ballot box.”
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Dhiraagu launches BlackBerry

Dhiraagu has officially launched BlackBerry services, and now offers customers three BlackBerry Smartphone plans, which can be added to postpaid plans.

At  a press  conference  held  at  Dhiraagu  today Director of Marketing Ahmed  Maumoon said,  “After  a  very  successful  soft‐launch  period  for  thorough  testing  of  the  BES
solution  with  different  customer  groups  we  are  delighted  to  unveil  Dhiraagu  BlackBerry Smartphone Plans with the largest network in the Maldives.”

Maumoon commented that the preliminary soft launch period was proof Dhiraagu’s attention to customer needs and preferences.

In September of this  year, competitor Wataniya launched BlackBerry service in the Maldives. Officials at the time considered it an important step for business in the country, given the service’s reputation for strong security.

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Naifaru Court orders BML to issue dollars to Naifaru NGO

Naifaru Court has ordered the Bank of Maldives (BML)’s Naifaru Branch to issue an amount of dollars requested by the ‘Naifaru Juvenile’ NGO, after it sued the bank for declining to issue dollars because the NGO had deposited dollar cheques rather than physical cash.

Naifaru Court Judge Abdul Muhusin delivered the verdict yesterday and said that there was no legal grounds for the Bank of Maldives to withhold the money, and that all the dollars saved in the bank under Naifaru Juvenile’s name belonged to the NGO.

The judge also ruled that the bank had no authority to change the money into another currency when the owner requested it to be kept in the specific currency that the owner had deposited.

The money saved in Naifaru Juvenile’s account was money aid money from foreign parties to conduct different activities under agreements it had made, and if the money was not released, the foreign parties aiding the NGO might lose confidence in it, the judge said.

The judge also noted that its inability to draw on its funds could potentially lead to the NGO losing future agreements and aid from foreign parties.

BML and other banks in the Maldives are currently facing an ongoing major dollar shortage and have limited the amount of dollars they issue each day.

While the official exchange rate has been floated within 20 percent of the pegged rate of Rf12.85, it has sat for much of the year at the upper bracket of Rf15.42. The exchange rate on the black market is up to Rf20.

While dollars pour into the Maldives’ profitable tourism sector, much of this is swiftly banked overseas and little enters the local economy. The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has never enforced regulations requiring use of the local currency and most tourism businesses continue to charge tourists in US dollars, greatly limiting demand for rufiya.

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GMR could colonise economy: DQP

A 24-page book released by Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP) presents the government’s lease of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) to developer GMR as a threat to local industry that will “enslave the nation and its economy”.

In the book, titled “Handing the airport to GMR: The beginning of slavery”, the DQP claim that the government has not only leased INIA operations to GMR, but  has allowed the company to open other businesses in the Maldives.

GMR Male’ Retail was recently registered at the Economic Ministry. It is the second GMR business registered in the Maldives.

Citing information available in the public domain, DQP alleges that all Hulhule island lagoon resources will become the property of GMR, including the Hulhule Island Hotel (HIH), in-flight catering services and the Maldivian Air Taxi service.

Because salaries paid to Maldivian employees are a burden, the book claims, GMR will bring in Indian employees and house them in Hulhumale, “creating a visa-free zone for Indians to come and go”, reads Haveeru’s translation.

DQP further alleges that the airport development budget covers the expense of building hotels, offices and apartments on Hulhule but claims that there is no official requirement for GMR to develop a runway – apparently a key benchmark of local benefits.

Meanwhile, GMR today held a ground-breaking ceremony at INIA today to celebrate the start of work on a new terminal.

When asked about the groundbreaking, DQP member Dr Mohamed Jameel commented that “any development is good as long as it benefits the people of the Maldives. But the main benefit would be a new runway, and we don’t see that GMR is contractually obligated to construct one. Our question is, who will do the runway?”

London Heathrow has two runways, and is the busiest airport in the world with over 65 million passengers annually. The new terminal in the Maldives will take the airport up to a capacity of five million.

Jameel said completed development projects are not contributing to national development.

Other claims in the book include that all foreign currency earned at the airport is being deposited abroad by GMR, leading to the current dollar shortage.

Jameel called the book “a responsible work in the sense that it highlights issues relating to overall economy. This issue is very close to the hearts of the Maldivian people since the work at the airport was originally done by the Maldivian people. And we don’t agree that the people have the best deal.”

Minivan News asked whether use of the word ‘slavery’ in the book’s title had a purpose.

“In modern times people don’t colonise by taking over other countries, they colonise through economic and business ventures. A small country like the Maldives is very vulnerable to its economic needs. We have a history of neighboring countries manipulating the Maldives through economy, and it has been difficult to break those ties,” said Jameel.

President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said he felt the title’s wording was “very strong”, and drew a faulty comparison between international cooperation for mutual benefit and foreign occupation of a people and market for selfish purposes.

“The purpose of all this is to make Maldivians mistakenly feel like they are under occupation and the country is being sold out,” said Zuhair, who pointed out that the government “wouldn’t have gone out for an international bid [on the airport project] if there was a way to borrow money and do it internally.”

He explained that the airport now yields “a bulk” of the national revenue, in dollars: “If foreign visitors increase, income increases. It’s simple math.”

He added that the negative publicity could have a negative impact on relations with “a very friendly neighbor, India.”

Ultimately, Zuhair doubted that DQP’s book would deliver the desired outcome.

“Attempts to ferment nationalist sentiment against a profitable corporation are bound to fail because people are more aware of the issues. The income the government makes from the airport is already double what the previous government made.”

An informed source close to the former regime told Minivan News that the former government’s plans for airport development were not Male’ based, but instead re-routed growth and profits to Maamigili. The source suggested that individuals close to former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom were then in a position to “benefit significantly” from the plan.

“The opposition does not like that the current government is keeping the business in Male’,” said the source.

DQP plans to distribute 20,000 copies of the book.

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Nasheed installs solar panels on President’s Office

The government has begun installing solar panels on the rooftops of public buildings in Male’, under the Japanese government-sponsored ‘Project for Clean Energy Promotion in Male’.

This morning President Mohamed Nasheed clambered onto the roof of the President’s office to bolt down and wire up a panel, 20 kilowatts worth of which have already been installed all over the building.

The project’s 395 kilowatts of panels will ultimately cut down the fossil fuel usage of installed buildings and ultimately energy bills by 30 percent, under the State Electric Company (STELCO)’s new feed-in tariff.

Speaking during the ceremony to launch the project, Nasheed said a transition away from fossil fuels would increase the energy efficiency of the Maldives by 20-30 percent by the end of 2013.

Nasheed has previously installed 48 solar panels on the roof of his residence, Muleeage, provided gratis by LG Electronics Califorian company Sungevity. Those panels generate 11.5 kilowatts of peak output, enough to power almost 200 standard 60 watt light bulbs, and will save the country US$300,000 over the life of the system.

Minivan News understands that the government is currently revising the draft feed-in tariff – which is currently operative – to make it attractive to companies willing to invest the upfront costs of powering remote islands with solar electricity.

The government has endorsed solar as the best renewable option for reaching its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2020, a goal that has broadened from one of environmental concern to an economic imperative.

Last year the Maldives spent 16 percent of its GDP on fossil fuels, making the country extremely vulnerable to even the tiniest oil price fluctuations and adding an economic imperative to renewable energy adoption.

Data collected by the President’s Energy Advisor, former mining engineer Mike Mason, shows that it presently costs between 28-29 cents to produce a kilowatt hour in the Maldives at best, and 77 cents per kilowatt hour at worst.

“Anything beyond 28-29 cents for a big island and 32-33 cents for a small island is just money being burned,” Mason said during the recent Slow Life Symposium held at the upmarket Soneva Fushi resort.

The cost of providing solar electricity straight from the panel was far below the cost of using diesel on any island, including Male’, Mason explained.

Mason collected data on energy usage from the island of Maalhos in Baa Atoll, and found that by pointing the solar panel in the same direction all day, “you can meet midday demand easily. But between 6-11 am in the morning, and after 2pm in the afternoon, you still need to meet the cooling load of fridges and air-conditioners.”

Mason had two suggestions – the first was to use (more expensive) tracking solar panels that would follow the sun and extend the daytime period in which demand could be met using solar. This would also generate the maximum yield from each panel, mitigating another problem – space.

“The challenge will be getting tracking to work in a hot, humid, salty environment,” he acknowledged, particularly if the panels were mounted in shallow lagoons.

The cost of providing electricity from solar in conjunction with current commercially available battery technology was not much different from existing diesel arrangements on many islands, Mason observed. “You lose 20 percent of the electricity putting it in and taking it back out, and it is expensive to fix. It’s not good enough.”

However on Maalhos, Mason noted, 28 percent of the electricity demand was for cooling.

“I had a think about storage. We could use really cold water refrigerated during the day, and use that to drive air-conditioning and fridges at night. This applies as much to resorts as it does home islands.”

This innovation would drop the cost to the level of the country’s most efficient diesel generators, Mason explained. For those powerplants currently running at 77 cents a kilowatt, “this is an opportunity to print money – and there aren’t many of those available to the government.”

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President asks parliament to approve Tholal as Deputy Human Rights Commissioner

President Mohamed Nasheed has requested the parliament approve the appointment of Ahmed Tholal to the position of Deputy Human Rights Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).

The President’s Office said the President has sent a letter to the Speaker of the parliament Abdulla Shahid.

HRCM has never had a Deputy Human Rights Commissioner since the establishment of HRCM under the new constitution.

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Diabetics panic as Male’s insulin supply dries up

Diabetic patients taking regular ‘Human Mixtard’ insulin injections have been on a panicked hunt around the pharmacies for almost a week, due to the sudden shortage in supply, Minivan News has learned.

Human Mixtard is the most commonly prescribed insulin to diabetic patients, which number approximately 16,000 nation-wide.

Dr Ahmed Razee, an internist with special interest in diabetes and kidney diseases, told Minivan News that many patients are complaining that they have been unable to get the insulin from pharmacies.

“I’m prescribing insulin for roughly 20 patients. I’m just one physician. There are an estimated 16,000 diabetics, and about two percent of them require insulin,” he said.

According to the State Trading Organisation (STO), which is the major drugs importer and supplier, the drug supply is dry because of a “registration problem” with Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA), which approves and monitors the medical drugs supply.

“There is a registration problem with the drug. We are discussing with the authority to resolve the issue,” STO Managing Director Shahid Ali told Minivan News on Sunday.

Shahid explained that all drugs have to be registered and approved by the MFDA before being released on the market. He added that an existing Mixtard stock is being held in reserve, and will be released to the pharmacies as soon as the registration problem is cleared.

MFDA was not responding at the time of press.

Minivan News could not get an official comment from the second largest drug importer, ADK Pharmacy, as well.

Posing as a customer, Minivan News called the main ADK pharmacy and was told that “insulin stock is out in all ADK pharmacies” and that “new stock will arrive next week”.

CEO of the Diabetic Society of Maldives (DSM) NGO, Aishath Shiruhana, said she was unaware of the shortage but that two people had called her requesting insulin.

Shiruhana said news of the Human Mixard shortage was upsetting as it was needed for the survival of diabetic patients.

However, she said DSM has an insulin stock and will continue to provide free injections to children registered at the NGO.

Meanwhile, a proposal to allow doctors to provide medication directly from health centres, bypassing the prescription process, is currently under review.

State Health Minister Ibrahim Waheed announced last week that the proposal is being discussed with health corporations and those prescriptions could be ruled out by next June at the earliest.

He further suggested that a large pharmacy would be established in every atoll hospital, and would supply products to other health centers across the atolls.

Generic drug-based systems which include hospital-centred distribution are common practice in other countries, sources say.

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High Court upholds arrest of police officer charged with rape

The High Court has supported Addu City Court’s order to extend the detention of a police officer arrested on charges of raping a married woman, taking nude photographs of her and letting his friends abuse her.

The arrest warrant was appealed at the High Court after the Addu City Court extended the police officers detention. The High Court said most of the evidences presented against the officer was found on his mobile phone.

The court also said that there was enough evidence to believe that the officer was involved in the incident.

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