Tag: Champa

Project to build multi-speciality hospital awarded to Treetop Investments

A project to build a multi-speciality hospital in Hulhumalé has been awarded to Treetop Investments Pvt Ltd by the Ministry of Health, reports CNM.

According to the online news outlet, local companies Champa Brothers, Kasa Holdings, Crown Company, and Kurehdhoo Holdings all have a stake in Treetop Investments.

The project was awarded to Treetop after initial expressions of interest (EOIs) submitted to the ministry were cancelled.

Health Ministry Director General Dr Sheeza Ali said efforts to formulate the contract and design were currently ongoing, adding that the project would be divided into two phases.

While 10 companies – including a Malaysian company, German company, two Indian companies, and five Maldivian companies – had submitted EOIs, the economic council decided not to allow the companies to submit detailed proposals.

The purpose of the 337-bed hospital is to ease the burden on the government-operated Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in the capital, the health ministry has previously said, and would function as an extension of IGMH.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Civil Court overturns EPA’s Rf100 million fine against Champa over Thunbafushi

The Civil Court has overturned the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)’s Rf100 million (US$6.5 million) fine against local business tycoon Mohamed ‘Champa’ Moosa.

The EPA fined Champa the maximum possible penalty in June and labelled him an “environmental criminal” for irreversibly damaging the island of Thun’bafushi and the marine ecosystem of Thun’bafalhu, notably conducting dredging and reclamation works in the area without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

The Civil Court however ruled that the fine was not valid as the EPA had not given him the opportunity to respond to the allegations.

Judge Maryam Nihayath noted that under Article 43, “everyone has the right to administrative action that is lawful, procedurally fair, and expeditious.”

The judge said that the EPA had conducted many surveys in Thun’bufaru but had not shared the surveys with Champa, and that Champa was not informed of what actions had violated the law or what damage had been caused.

Judge Nihayath then ruled that the EPA had not completed “administratively fair procedure” that was required before any action against the accused could be taken, and invalidated the Rf100 million fine.

Director of the EPA Ibrahim Naeem told Minivan News today that the EPA had given all necessary documents to Champa and that he had been given “more than enough time to prepare his appeal.”

Naeem said the EPA had not been officially notified of the verdict and had yet to decide whether to appeal the decision in the High Court, or address any procedural issue and reissue the fine.

Naeem previously told Minivan News in June that the area had been irreversibly damaged and a large reef habitat destroyed.

“This was originally a reef ecosystem with a small sand bank in the middle, but he has been dredging the island without any clearance and the changes are now irreversible,” Naeem said at the time.

After three surveys of the area, the EPA had assessed the damage as amounting to Rf2,230,293,566 (US$144.6 million), not including the impact of sedimentation from the dredging which can smother coral kilometres from the site.

A foreign consultant who was involved in surveying the island had meanwhile told Minivan News that the area “seems to have been used as a dumping ground.”

“There were what looked like hundreds of used car batteries, waste metals and oil drums leeching into the marine environment,” the consultant said.
“We were looking at the effect of the dredging on sedimentation, and there were no water quality tests done. But you can just imagine what it would have been like with all the batteries and waste metals.”

Images of the island obtained by Minivan News showed discarded piles of rubbish and batteries, old earthmoving machinery rusting in the sun, and half a dozen reef sharks in a tank containing a foot of tepid water.

Several days after Champa was issued the fine in June, the then-Director General of the EPA Mohamed Zuhair suddenly resigned from the post, publicly stating on DhiTV – a private network owned by Champa – that his departure was due to “political interference” in the EPA’s fining of the tycoon.

Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam claimed that Zuhair had previously signalled his intention to participate in the government’s voluntary redundancy program three weeks before his sudden departure, which rendered him ineligible for the lump sum pay out.

Zuhair’s decision to apply for the program had caught the government by surprise, Aslam said at the time, explaining that he had met with the EPA’s Director General to try and retain him.

“His reason was that government pay was not meeting his financial needs, and he was looking to move to the private sector. We offered to move him to another department that would allow him to also work in the private sector – which is not allowed under the EPA’s regulations.”

Aslam said he became concerned when he pressed Zuhair for an explanation, “but he said on this matter he couldn’t tell us anything further.”

“We asked asked him then if this was a matter of national security, but he said no. So we respected his decision, and he submitted [the voluntary redundancy forms] with the Ministry of Finance, and we were just about to sign them – my signature was to be the last.”

Around this time Zuhair was allegedly sent a letter containing a mobile phone SIM card and a slip of paper note requesting he use it to call Nawal Firaq, the CEO of DhiTV.

Minivan News understands the letter containing the note and SIM card, registered in the name of a Bangladeshi labourer, was delivered to Zuhair’s flat on Friday morning but instead found its way to police.

Firaq denied knowledge of the letter when contacted by Minivan News in June. In the police inquiry subsequent to his resignation Zuhair cooperated with police but denied any knowledge of receiving the letter.

“This is Champa building his court case by attempting to question the independence of the EPA,” Aslam alleged at the time, noting that as the EPA’s Director General, Zuhair’s signature was on all the correspondence with Champa, including the notice informing him of the fine.

“Thun’bafushi has been an issue long before we took office,” Aslam told Minivan News, explaining that the previous administration had initially rented the island to Champa for Rf 100 a year (US$6.40) under an agreement that stipulated that he “not do anything detrimental to the environment – he was allowed to grow trees and monitor the shifting of the islands. He was not allowed to reclaim or extend the island.”

However Champa had conducted these works without ever submitting an EIA, Aslam alleged at the time.

“The area has been surveyed 2-3 times now, and last year the Director General attended himself a survey to assess the cost of the damage.”

The government had on several occasions asked Champa to explain himself, and he had corresponded with the EPA, Aslam said.

“Champa disputes he has done anything illegal, and states that has done everything according to the initial agreement.”

Champa had not responded to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Mother of Jonathan Gray calls for full inquiry into Kuredu quad-bike accident

The mother of a British honeymooner who died when the quad-bike he was riding on crashed into a tree on Kuredu Island Resort has called for a full investigation into the couple’s death.

Jonathan Gray and his wife Emma Gray, both 25, had been married on July 30 in West Yorkshire. They were killed a week later on August 6 at 4:00am on a Saturday morning.

Jonathan’s mother Cath Davies told the BBC she had been led to understand that the vehicle was unregistered and the driver unlicensed, and called for a full investigation to prevent such a tragedy from reoccurring.

“Somebody, somewhere, is responsible for having allowed that quad to be on the island, and those keys to be available to the young man who was unlicensed and unregistered. I’m sure I’m not mistaken, but he shouldn’t have been there,” she said.

“The lad himself, my heart goes out to him and his family because he has done something reckless and really foolish which has ended in the most tragic way possible, but he never meant for this to happen. I don’t want the responsibility to be solely his.”

The driver of the quad-bike, subsequently identified by police as Swedish national Filip Petre, a guest relations officer and son of one of the resort’s shareholders, remains in hospital in Male’ being treated for injuries he sustained during the accident.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that Petre’s was not under arrest but that his passport had been confiscated pending the outcome of the investigation, as was standard procedure in such serious cases. If Petre’s injuries required him to receive treatment outside the Maldives, “that would be a matter for our legal officers.”

Shiyam said that police had completed examining the scene of the accident and were now working to conclude the investigation as swiftly as possible.

In an emergency motion in parliament last week MDP MP ‘Reeko Moosa Manik alleged that the King Quad 700 was unregistered and Petre unlicensed to operate it.

Opposition MPs claimed that Reeko Moosa’s motion was a “personal attack” against the owner of the resort, Champa ‘Uchoo’ Mohamed Moosa, in retaliation for Champa’s television network DhiTV’s coverage of alcohol bottles found in Reeko’s car last year.

The bodies of the couple were reported to have been flown back to the UK for the funeral. Davies told the BBC that the fact the couple had been married and had enjoyed six happy years together had made the tragedy easier to endure.

“They had that day. It was perfect. Both were fantastically successful in their own lives and have their wonderful little boy. It was so perfect for them. It was almost too perfect,” she said.

The Gray’s six-month old child, Jake, will grow up “much loved by all his family,” Davies told the BBC. “He is a very happy little baby and will grow up into a wonderful man just like his father.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

EPA Director General approved for voluntary redundancy three weeks before sudden departure

Former Director General of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) Mohamed Zuhair had given notice that he intended to participate in the government’s voluntary redundancy program three weeks before his sudden departure last week, Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam has revealed.

Zuhair resigned publicly stating that his departure was due to “political interference” in the EPA’s fining of local business tycoon Mohamed ‘Champa’ Moosa – the owner of opposition-leaning private broadcaster DhiTV – for conducting dredging and reclamation works around Thun’bafushi without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

Photos obtained by Minivan News, corroborated by the eyewitness accounts of foreign experts, suggested that Thun’bafushi had been used as a dump site, with piles of old machinery, oil drums and used car batteries rusting in the sun. At the time the photos were taken, a number of sharks were also being kept in a concrete tank containing less than a foot of tepid water.

The EPA labelled Champa an “environmental criminal” and fined him the maximum penalty of Rf100 million (US$6.5 million) after the EPA assessed damage to the area as amounting to Rf2,230,293,566 (US$144.6 million), under new enforcement regulation introduced in February.

“Thun’bafushi has been an issue long before we took office,” Aslam told Minivan News, explaining that the previous administration had initially rented the island to Champa for Rf 100 a year (US$6.40) under an agreement that stipulated that he “not do anything detrimental to the environment – he was allowed to grow trees and monitor the shifting of the islands. He was not allowed to reclaim or extend the island.”

However Champa had conducted these works without ever submitting an EIA, Aslam said.

“The area has been surveyed 2-3 times now, and last year the Director General attended himself a survey to assess the cost of the damage.”

The government had on several occasions asked Champa to explain himself, and he had corresponded with the EPA, Aslam said.

“Champa disputes he has done anything illegal, and states that has done everything according to the initial agreement.”

Champa’s lawyer, Aslam noted, “a professional with a background in island morphology”, had claimed that the Maldives did not have the capacity to do an accurate assessment.

Champa has yet to appeal the EPA’s formal issuance of the fine, Aslam said, “and it is up to him to take the matter to court.”

Aslam disputed Zuhair’s parting public accusation that the government had interfered in the fining of Champa, noting that several resort properties had also been fined for unapproved reclamation works.

“We know this accusation to be inaccurate,” Aslam said, explaining that Zuhair had expressed his decision to take the voluntary redundancy package three weeks ago.

The Asia Development Bank (ADB)-backed redundancy incentive program offered lump sums of up to Rf200,000 (US$13,000) as well as scholarships and preferential SME loans to civil servants in an attempt to downsize the state budget. The deadline for applications was May 31.

Zuhair’s decision to apply for the program had caught the government by surprise, Aslam said, explaining that he had met with the EPA’s Director General to try and retain him.

“His reason was that government pay was not meeting his financial needs, and he was looking to move to the private sector. We offered to move him to another department that would allow him to also work in the private sector – which is not allowed under the EPA’s regulations.”

Aslam said he became concerned when he pressed Zuhair for an explanation, “but he said on this matter he couldn’t tell us anything further.”

“We asked asked him then if this was a matter of national security, but he said no. So we respected his decision, and he submitted [the voluntary redundancy forms] with the Ministry of Finance, and we were just about to sign them – my signature was to be the last.”

Around this time Zuhair was allegedly sent a letter containing a mobile phone SIM card and a slip of paper note requesting he use it to call Nawal Firaq, the CEO of DhiTV.

Minivan News understands the letter containing the note and SIM card, registered in the name of a Bangladeshi labourer, was delivered to Zuhair’s flat on Friday morning but instead found its way to police.

Firaq denied knowledge of the letter when contacted by Minivan News.

In the police inquiry subsequent to his resignation Zuhair cooperated with police but denied any knowledge of receiving the letter.

“This is Champa building his court case by attempting to question the independence of the EPA,” Aslam suggested, noting that as the EPA’s Director General, Zuhair’s signature was on all the correspondence with Champa, including the notice informing him of the fine.

Despite Zuhair’s expressed financial concerns, his sudden resignation following the fining had meant he had forfeited his entitlement to the redundancy package he had applied for, Aslam noted.

“The numbers don’t add up,” he said.

The EPA’s Director Ibrahim Naeem told Minivan News that neither he or the EPA had received any communication from Zuhair following his sudden resignation.

“I heard his words on television, and some of them did not match his actions,” Naeem said. “He was the guy who signed the letter [fining Champa]. Why would he have done so if he was not happy about it?”

As to why Zuhair would have resigned before receiving his resignation chit from the civil service commission, “that is a very big question, and the answer is not very clear.”

Minivan News has sought to contact Zuhair for several days in regards to his resignation, but his phone appears to have meanwhile been switched off. The EPA and the Environment Ministry have also reported difficulties contacting him.

Minivan News also sought response from Champa but he was not responding to calls at time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Champa Moosa “an environmental criminal”, claims EPA, while police interrogate authority’s former Director General

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has labelled local business tycoon Mohamed ‘Champa’ Moosa an “environmental criminal” for irreversibly damaging the island of Thun’bafushi and the marine ecosystem of Thun’bafalhu.

The EPA on Thursday fined Moosa the maximum penalty of Rf100 million (US$6.5 million) for conducting dredging and reclamation works in the area without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

Director-General of the EPA Mohamed Zuhair has reportedly resigned over the matter. Furthermore, Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed to Minivan News that Zuhair had been taken in for questioning regarding an undisclosed investigation. Zuhair was not responding at time of press.

Director of the EPA Ibrahim Naeem told Minivan News the area had been irreversibly damaged and a large reef habitat destroyed.

Sharks left in a foot of tepid water

“This was originally a reef ecosystem with a small sand bank in the middle, but he has been dredging the island without any clearance and the changes are now irreversible,” Naeem said.

After three surveys of the area, the EPA had assessed the damage as amounting to Rf2,230,293,566 (US$144.6 million), not including the impact of sedimentation from the dredging which can smother coral kilometres from the site.

A foreign consultant who was involved in surveying the island told Minivan News that the area “seems to have been used as a dumping ground.”

“There were what looked like hundreds of used car batteries, waste metals and oil drums leeching into the marine environment,” the consultant said.

“We were looking at the effect of the dredging on sedimentation, and there were no water quality tests done. But you can just imagine what it would have been like with all the batteries and waste metals.”

Images of the island obtained by Minivan News showed discarded piles of rubbish and batteries, old earthmoving machinery rusting in the sun, and half a dozen reef sharks in a tank containing a foot of tepid water.

While the unauthorised reclamation works are several years old and have been a subject of EPA concern for some time, Naeem explained that the procedure and mechanism for calculating and issuing fines was only established in February this year.

The Environmental Protection Act already states the requirement for an EIA assessment and the illegality of conducting works without acquiring one, but does not outline how this should be penalised. Naeem noted that the EPA had lost court battles on the specifics prior to the introduction of the new framework in February.

“We now calculate environmental damage caused by [unauthorised] dredging at Rf65,000 (US$4200) per square metre,” Naeem said, “but Rf100,000 million is the maximum fine.”

Fines were open to appeal and negotiation, Naeem said, suggesting that “this is likely to happen in this case.”

Piles of rubble and old machinery

Moosa could also request the EPA resurvey the damaged area, Naeem  said, although he noted that the EPA had already surveyed the area three times, most recently in March.

Ali Rilwan of Environmental NGO Bluepeace expressed concern that the EPA’s previous issuing of fines for environmental damage was sporadic, and those that were issued were often unpaid “or the day afterwards, pardon is given.”

The EPA’s lack of independence from the executive also “raised doubts” as to whether fines were politically motivated – Moosa’s business interests include private broadcaster DhiTV, which the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has previously criticised for being heavily aligned to the opposition.

“The Environmental Act does not conflict with the Constitution, but the EPA should be an independent body like the Human Rights Commission,” Rilwan said.

“It should be an independent agency autonomous from the government staffed by academic professionals, rather than civil servants and ministers. Because of the current setup, we do have doubts [over its independence].”

A building on the island used for storage

Naeem responded that while he did not know if there was a political element to the decision to fine Moosa a week before the government was seeking to push through major economic reforms in parliament, “what we do know is that Champa has definitely done this without a license or any form of clearance.”

“I don’t know if there is a political element – but he has committed a crime, and we have to take our responsibility towards the environment seriously,” he said.

Minivan News contacted Champa Moosa for comment but he had not responded at time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

City Council extends carnival plots lease

Male’ City Council has extended leases for plots rented out from the Alimas Ufaa Carnival area by an additional three months, reports Haveeru.

While the leases for the cafes and other facilities at the Carnival expired in 2006, the now-defunct Male’ Municipality has been extending the leases since 2007.

Male’ Mayor “Sarangu” Adam Manik said that the council decided to finalise development plans for the area during the next three months.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)