Day: October 27, 2014

Police statements taken from six children after unrest at Villingili shelter

Statements were taken from six students at the Villingili orphanage over a disturbance in which both staff and property were harmed last night (October 26).

A police media official confirmed that police were called to the scene by the children’s shelter staff and that they questioned and took statements from six of the children.

The refused to give further information stating that investigations into the incident were still ongoing.

The children’s shelter also refused to comment on the matter, while officials from the Ministry of Health and Gender were unavailable to comment at the time of publication.

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MTCC not responsible for severe sand spill on Komandoo reef, says environment minister

The state owned Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) will not be penalised for a severe sand spill on the reef of Komandoo Island in Shaviyani Atoll, Environment Minister Thoriq Ibrahim told parliament today.

The sand spill – which has destroyed large swathes of the island’s reef – was caused by a storm surge, Thoriq said.

The MTCC – in charge of a coastal protection and land reclamation project on the island – had implemented the required measures to prevent sand spills, but bad weather and swells caused the erosion of reclaimed areas and washed piled up sand onto the reef, Thoriq said.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Komandoo MP Ahmed Nashid blamed the MTCC’s slow progress for the sand spill, claiming the sand piles had been left on the island’s shores since 2012.

If the project had been completed on time, the spill would not have taken place, he suggested.

Minister Thoriq told the Majlis this morning that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) had acknowledged sand had spilled onto the reef.

“However, the island council’s members said the spill was not reported in case it may halt the project,” said Thoriq.

MP Nashid had summoned the minister for questioning, asking if the ministry had done a survey of damages and if the MTCC would be penalised for the spill.

Thoriq said the environment ministry had not been informed of the spill prior to Nashid raising the issue, but had monitored the area afterwards. An EPA team had visited the site and found the MTCC had followed all environmental procedures outlined in the environmental impact assessment report, he explained.

According to Thoriq – who said the exact date of the spill was unknown – explained that the sand had now washed off into the ocean with currents and the reef was showing signs of regeneration.

If any party reports environmental violations, the EPA will inspect site and take required action, he added.

The ministry does not have the capacity to monitor all ongoing projects, and will only begin an inspection if a violation is reported. But the ministry does take punitive action against companies who violate EIAs, he insisted.

The government intends to carry out projects to address erosion in seven islands this year, the minister told MPs, with approximately 97 percent of inhabited islands in the Maldives reporting severe erosion.

The government will spend MVR116.3 million (US$ 7.5 million) on protecting 3,482 meters of shore in the seven islands, he said.

In May, environmental NGO EcoCare accused Netherlands based Boskalis of committing environmental crimes after it caused sand to be deposited onto Baa Atoll Eydhafushi Island during a reclamation project.

The company’s rainbow technique for reclamation had also covered houses and vegetation on Eydhafushi and Raa Meedhoo Island with sand and water.

Minivan News was unable to reach the EPA to confirm if action had been taken against Boskalis for damages.

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MP Nazim left Maldives on same night travel restrictions were placed

Former Deputy Speaker and Dhiggaru MP Ahmed Nazim reportedly left the Maldives for Malaysia the same night that travel restrictions were placed on him following a Criminal Court order.

Haveeru reported that Nazim left the Maldives last Wednesday night (October 22) while the Criminal Court issued an order to immigration authorities to withhold his passport on the same night at 9.45pm.

Police confirmed that Nazim’s passport has been held but refused to give any further information as to why the passport was held in the first place.

An independent report into the disappearance of Minivan News journalist Ahmed Rilwan also mentioned the Dhiggaru MP’s name, alleging that Nazim had attempted to implicate the tourism minister Ahmed Adeeb in the case.

The report by private UK-based intelligence firm suggested that Nazim had promised to provide a journalist with information linking Adeeb – also deputy leader of the PPM – with corruption if he could be linked to the disappearance of Rilwan.

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Tourist arrivals register 10 percent growth in three quarters of 2014

Tourist arrivals in the first three quarters of 2014 registered a 10.1 percent growth compared to the same period last year, reaching a total of 901,004 guests by the end of September, the Ministry of Tourism has revealed.

Visitors from Asia and Pacific countries accounted for 50 percent of all arrivals during the first nine months of the year.

However, the ministry noted in a statement last week that “the pace at which arrival from the region was increasing have slowed down since June.”

“While the region enjoyed a robust growth of 22.3 percent at the end of first two quarters of 2014, growth rate slowed down to 17.3 percent by the end of the third quarter of 2014,” the ministry explained.

“The region injected 53,454 tourists to the total arrivals to the country during the month of September, summing up the total arrivals from the region to 450,296 by the end of the period from January to September 2014.”

China (31.8 percent), India (3.5 percent), Japan (3.1 percent) and South Korea (2.7 percent) were the leading markets from Asia and the Pacific region, the ministry revealed, with Australia (1.6 percent) “emerging as a potential market from this region.”

“The Chinese market, registered a negative growth (-1.7 percent) for the first time in September 2014 since becoming the number one market in 2010. However, the market ended up with a healthy 14.8 percent growth at the end of the period from January to September 2014 with a total of 286,838 tourists.”

Tourist arrivals from Europe meanwhile increased 1.6 percent in the first three quarters compared to the same period in 2013, reaching 386,914 visitors.

“In terms of individual markets from Europe, leading markets were Germany (7.7 percent), the United Kingdom (7.4 percent), Russia (5.7 percent), Italy (4.8 percent) and France (4.2 percent),” the ministry revealed.

Arrivals from the Americas registered a strong growth of 25.2 percent in September with double digit growth rates recorded from all major markets in the region.

“With just a couple of hundred tourists less than that of Americas, Middle East followed closely behind bringing in a total of 28,641 tourists at the end of the period from January to September 2014 accounting for 3.2 percent of all arrivals during the period,” the ministry noted.

“This region also posted a heavy growth of 20.5 percent during the month of September 2014 ending the period with a robust 16.9 percent growth.”

Meanwhile, one new resort – Loama Resort Maldives on the island of Maamigili in Raa Atoll – and seven new guest houses opened during September.

“With these new additions, the total number of registered establishments reached 488 with 30,893 beds at the end of September 2014,” the ministry noted.

“While the total number of registered resorts increased to 112 with 23,917 beds and guest houses increased to 195 with 2,723 beds, number of hotels and safari vessels remained at 18 and 163 with 1,542 beds and 2,711 beds respectively by the end of September 2014. At the end of this period on average there were 292 establishment with 26,905 beds in operation.”

Statistics show that total bednights during the period was 5.4 million, with an average occupancy rate of 74.6 percent – an increase of 1.6 percent compared with the same period in 2013. Average duration of stay remained steady throughout the January to September period.

Quarterly economic bulletin

The Maldives Monetary Authority’s (MMA) quarterly economic bulletin released last week meanwhile observed that the “favourable growth in the tourism industry during the year suggests that the arrival of a million tourists during one calendar year is likely to be achieved in 2014 as well.”

“Reflecting the growth in bed nights, total tourism receipts grew by an annual 12 percent during the first six months of 2014 and totalled US$1.3 billion,” the central bank revealed.

While the market share of Europe fell from 51 percent in the first half of 2013 to 47 percent in the same period this year, the MMA noted that arrivals from Germany and the UK increased.

“In particular, the sustained growth of arrivals from UK, with a market share equivalent to 8 percent, reflects its economic revival to pre-crisis levels,” the bulletin suggested.

“Other markets in Europe, however, indicated sluggish or negative growth in tourist arrivals, contributing to the overall marginal increase in arrivals from Europe.”

The MMA also observed that in the past five years “the development of guesthouses as a low cost accommodation option for tourists in local inhabited islands has gained significant momentum.”

The authority noted that the number of guest houses in the industry is now over 2,400

“As at the end of June 2014, the number of registered beds in the [guest house] industry is recorded to be over 2,400. While the bed capacity of guesthouses accounted for a mere 2 percent of the bed capacity of the industry as a whole in 2010, it has now come to represent 8 percent of the total bed capacity in tourism establishments,” the bulletin stated.

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MDP submits 12,000 membership forms

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) submitted 12,000 membership forms yesterday to the Elections Commission (EC).

MDP Chairperson Ali Waheed told the press that the main opposition party’s membership would rise to over 50,000 once the new membership forms are processed.

The MDP is currently the largest political party in Maldives with 40,940 registered members.

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NGO to conclude breast cancer awareness month with walk around Malé

The Cancer Society of Maldives (CMS) will conclude the breast cancer awareness month with a walk/run around the capital Malé on Thursday (October 30).

“Breast cancer survivors are going to participate in the walk. There will also be a CMS stall at Raalhugandu raising awareness about breast cancers and women’s boduberu at Raalhugandu during the walk,” said Chairperson Juwairiya Saeed.

According to Aasandha usage statistics, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the Maldives, with the most number of cases coming from Malé and Addu City.

Prevention of non-communicable diseases – including cancer – is a focus of the government’s 2006 -2015 Health Master Plan.

An awareness campaign was held from October 12 to 16 at the Huravee Building in association with the Table Tennis association of Maldives where members of the public were invited to play table tennis and donate money for the cause.

“Our main aim this month is to raise awareness and we have been doing so by conducting session about breast cancer every Wednesday night. Our sessions are focused at promoting self-diagnosis so that the cancer is detected in the early stages where it is easily curable,” explained Juwairiya.

The cancer society of Maldives is cut launched an SMS quiz about breast cancer as part of the awareness campaigns with a chance of winning a weekend for two at Reveries Diving Villa at Laamu Atoll. Participants must SMS ‘BC’ to 360 and answer all 10 questions correctly to be entered for the prize.

In February, CMS conducted a breast cancer screening at Addu City with the help of voluntary doctors from Singapore with plans to make the screenings an annual event to be held at a different atoll every year.

Juwairiya said that the association plans to establish a psycho-social support group for cancer patients, survivors and family members while highlighting the importance of eliminating the current social stigma surrounding cancer.

“CMS is also working on trying to establish a cancer database detailing the locations of the cancer patients, the expenses incurred for the treatment in order to identify suitable treatment methods. World Health Organization has expressed interest in the project,” said Juwairiya.

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Safe stolen from Filitheyo resort

Two masked men tied up a security guard and receptionist at the Filitheyo resort in Faafu atoll and stole a safe in the early hours of Sunday (October 26).

Police said the theft was reported around 3:20am and a team from Faafu Nilandhoo and Dhaalu Kudahuvadhoo was sent to the resort.

The two men went to the island on a speedboat, police explained, and tied up a foreign security guard and a Maldivian receptionist before stealing the safe.

According to the resort, more than MVR5,000 was stored in the safe.

Police are searching nearby uninhabited and inhabited islands to recover the safe.

Meanwhile, 10 people were arrested on Sunday at 5:00 am on charges of stealing the safe of Ernst and Young in Malé. Approximately MVR10,000 (US$648) was stolen, the police have said.

The majority were caught while attempting to flee from the police near the Ernst and Young offices.

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ARC invites submissions for photography competition

NGO Advocating the Rights of Children (ARC) has invited submissions from the public for ‘The Rights of Children Photography Competition 2014’.

According to ARC, the objective of the competition is to raise awareness on the rights of children as per the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

“Twelve photographs, one for each topic, will be selected and used in the design of ARC’s official calendar for the year 2015,” the NGO explained.

“Winners will be announced on Universal Children’s Day, the 20th of November, 2014, following an exhibition of selected photographs. The calendar will be launched on International Human Rights Day, the 10th of December, 2014. All proceeds from the calendar sales will be used to fund ARC’s H.O.P.E. Campaign against Child Abuse.”

The 12 topics or themes for the competition as well as guidelines for submission can be found on the ARC website.

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