Category: News in Brief

Tsunami report identifies recovery aid failures in India and Sri Lanka

‘Lessons from Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka and India’ described as a ‘large and wide-ranging study of post-tsunami recovery’ by researchers from Monash and RMIT universities in Melbourne, Australia, has been released.

The report identifies ‘serious shortcomings in how international aid agencies dealt with local groups, leaving them poorly equipped to manage with long-term recovery efforts. The researchers say they’re already seeing many of the mistakes repeated in the wake of more recent natural disasters, with worrying consequences’, reports ABC Radio Australia.

Radio Australia transcript with audio link

Lessons from Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka and India – pdf file

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Male International Airport remains the property of the Maldivian people: Razee

Male International Airport remains the property of the Maldivian people under the leasing agreement with GMR, says the minister of civil aviation and communications Mahmood Razee in a Miadhu report.

The government still has influence over the airport’s management and all flights will be authorised by the government, he says. ‘Aeronautical’ fees will also be set by the government.

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Fragile global economy ‘at risk of new crisis’: BIS

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland is warning of the threat of a new global credit crash and a deep recession.

“A shock of virtually any size risks a replay of the events we saw in late 2008 and early 2009,” says the bank in its annual report. “Unlike then, however, we have hardly any room for manoeuvre. Policy rates are already at zero and central bank balance sheets are bloated.”

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Male International Airport leasing deal signed after Maldives government appoints four new MAC board members

The Maldives government signed the 25 year lease agreement with India’s GMR Infrastructure today after appointing four new members to the Maldives Airport Company board ,according to Haveeru.

The signing ceremony came hours after the Majlis passed an amendment to the Public Finance Act, specifying that state assets could only be leased or sold with the approval of the Majlis.

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Shelving ETS scheme a reason for Rudd’s downfall: Inside Story

Kevin Rudd’s fall from power was mainly caused by his decisions to “shelve the emissions trading scheme, to toughen asylum-seeker policy and to impose the resource super profit tax on mining companies,” according to an article in the online Australian current affairs and culture website, Inside Story.

“Kevin Rudd was absolutely wrong to claim that he had been elected by the Australian people and not by Labor factions,” writes Geoffrey Barker. “Rudd was elected as the member for his parliamentary seat of Griffith in Queensland. Nothing more. He took the leadership from Kim Beazley by putting together the numbers within the caucus [the Labour Party MPs]. It is the caucus that creates and destroys, that gives leadership and takes it away, and it is false and fanciful to try to suggest otherwise.”

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Subsidy for more electricity consumers from September: Firaq

Electricity usage exceeding 400 units may be subsidised from September, the deputy minister for home affairs Mohamed Firaq told Television Maldives (TVM) on Sunday, reports Haveeru.

The additional subsidies would go to applicants after a review of their financial situation, said Firaq. The government presently subsidises electricity usage below 400 units. “After September, subsidies will be provided to applicants. Usage of below 400 units will be subsidised after an ‘easy’ form is submitted. Subsidies for those who use more than 400 units will be provided after they submit a special application form,” Firaq said. “Sometimes the electricity bill becomes hefty for houses with large families… The new policy aims to provide subsidies to this group.”

The forms are available at STELCO and the National Social Protection Agency.

The government gives some Rf5.5 million as subsidies to STELCO, and the amount would reach Rf60 million by the end of 2010, reports Haveeru. The fuel surcharge would be subsidised.

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GMR shares rise on back of Maldives deal: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation

Shares in Maldives GMR Infrastructure shares soared 5.5 percent to INR60 in morning trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday, after announcing the day before that it was awarded the contract to manage and expand Male International Airport in the Maldives, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has reported.

GMR Infrastructure stock closed 0.5 percent  higher.

GMR Infrastructure reportedly offered US$78 million upfront for the contract, plus 1 percent of total profits in the first year (until 2014) and 10 percent of profits from 2015 to 2035.

Meanwhile, Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL) reported an 11.6 percent year-on-year increase in net profit to US$20.1 million for the 12 months ended 31-Dec-2009.

MACL also declared the payment of USD4.9 million in dividends to the Maldives Government, an increase of 36.7 percent year-on-year, and a payment of 1 percent of net profit, US$200,886, as bonus to its employees.

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On-Off-On-Off-On airport privatisation agreement signing function

A ‘hasty function’ organised on Sunday to sign the Male International Airport privatisation agreement with India’s GMR was postponed for a few hours and later for a day, reports Haveeru.

The Maldivian government earlier had set the signing for Wednesday, and the sudden changes of schedule come hours after four opposition parties from the Majlis signed a joint statement opposing the privatisation.

At the President’s Office on Sunday afternoon, the privatisation committee chairperson Mahmood Razee announced ‘some documents are pending’. Afterwards, the President’s Office press secretary Mohamed Zuhair told Haveeru the function was postponed until Monday.

The function was cancelled due to disputes among board members of Maldives Airports Company Limited over appointing a board representative to sign the agreement, reports Haveeru. GMR Infrastructure won the bid last Thursday to expand, modernise and operate the airport for 25 years.

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Regional action on piracy threat essential: Shihab tells SAARC

Dinghies suspected of being associated with piracy are arriving in the seas around the Maldives and a regional mechanism to counter piracy is needed, said the Maldivian minister of home affairs Mohamed Shihab at the SAARC home ministers meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, reports Miadhu Daily.

The SAARC Drug and Terrorism Offences Monitoring group also needs to be strengthened, Shihab said. Police chiefs, immigration controllers and home secretaries attended the meeting which was held from 23 to 26 June.

This month a dinghy with 6 men aboard was found floating in Maldives waters and rescued by local fishermen off Maamakunudhoo atoll in northern Maldives, reported Miadhu Daily. In May the MNDF rescued an Iranian fishing boat with 20 people aboard 75 miles west of Huvadhu atoll in southern Maldives, and an abandoned boat suspected of belonging to pirates was discovered off Laamu atoll just north of Huvadhu in April. In December 2009, fishermen from Addu atoll spotted a similar boat with seven Somalis in distress drifting off Hithadhoo island in southern Maldives.

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