The controversial border control system is meanwhile up and running at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), after a Supreme Court ruling in early September favouring Nexbis ended almost two years of efforts by the ACC to block the project.
Minister of Finance and Treasury Abdulla Jihad has told local media that the country may struggle to cover payment of state salaries unless US$25 million in proposed financing from India is secured.
Australia has signed an MOU with the Maldives to offer assistance in the field of education, local media has reported.
“It is not like that. You see, even in some islands there are more than one association, so like that what is wrong with having two or even five unions? That is why we thought of making another union,” said Ibrahim Rasheed, founding member of the new Maldives National Port Workers Union.
Maldives’ government accuses World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) of “negligence”, “irresponsibility” in the bidding process for the airport, awarded to GMR by Nasheed’s government.
The ‘SenaHiya’ Military Hospital of the Maldives National Defense Force was officially opened today by visiting Inidan Defense Minister Shri A. K. Anthony.
“We have grown this year to be the country’s biggest ever exhibition with over 150 companies exhibiting representing groups from some 40 to 50 different countries,” Husnie Rauf, Senior Manager of Maldives Exhibition and Conference Services (MECS) has claimed.
President of the Anti-Corruption Commission (Hassan Luthfee) has said that investigations into the GMR deal will not be easy to complete. President’s Spokesman Abbas Adil Riza told local media yesterday that the government would not make any decisions until the ACC had completed its work.
Gasim’s comments follow GMR’s suspension of Villa Air’s credit facility due to unpaid bills of MVR 17 million (US$1.1 million) for fuel, ground handling and passenger service fees, according to local media reports on Saturday.