Tag: maldives

New bidding system will limit private vehicle congestion, says Transport Minister

The Ministry of Transport is drafting regulations that will limit applications for private vehicles via a bidding process, in an effort to halt further congestion of cities such as Male’.

“The idea is to control the rising number of vehicles on the streets of Male’,” said Transport Minister Adhil Saleem. “73 percent of people on the street are pedestrians, but the streets are small, especially with two rows of parked motorbikes, and pedestrians are being pinned against the wall.”

The new regulations, which will soon be published in the government’s gazette, will see a certain number of license numbers released to the public each year through public auction. The numbers will go to the applicants who score the most points, and not necessarily the highest bidder.

60 points will be allocated for vehicles with zero emissions, 50 points to the highest bidder, and 10 points for brand new fossil fuel vehicles. No points will be given for imported second hand vehicles, Adhil explained.

“We estimate that this will mean it will cost Rf100,000-200,000 (US$6485-12970) to put a brand new electric vehicle on the road, and Rf300,000-400,000 (US$19455-25940) to put a fossil fuel vehicle on the road,” he said.

The Ministry is also seeking to reform the taxis, Adhil said, which were currently operated like private vehicles rather than as a professional service.

“It’s encouraging the number of taxi drivers who have switched to driving the new buses. I think the scheme has been very successful. Already we can see little improvements in order on the main streets where the buses travel,” he said.

Co-founder of local environmental NGO Bluepeace, Ali Rilwan, said the bidding scheme sounded positive as long as it did not put vehicle ownership only within reach of the privileged.

Male’ already was way beyond its capacity for vehicles, he said. “More high rises are going up and there is just enough room for pedestrians.”

“When school kids come out on a road like Chandhanee Magu there is no space and the road closes,” Rilwan said.

It was a “good question” as to why so many cars and motorbikes were needed on a 2.2 square kilometre island, he noted.

“It’s a fashionable thing – it’s trendy for people to spend their free time riding around.”

People needed to be encouraged to use bicycles, he said, but said many were put off by the high rate of theft.

“Fifteen years ago bicycles had to be registered with a number plate. But when registration was relaxed in the late 1980s, the police were no longer able to identify bicycles and they were frequently stolen. People mark chickens and coconut trees on the islands, but not bicycles.”

It was not uncommon for a student to have to buy 7-10 bicycles during his school life, Rilwan said.

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Maldives President expresses sympathy after Norway terror attack kills 92

President Mohamed Nasheed has sent a message of sympathy to His Majesty King Harald V of Norway, after a bomb attack in Oslo and a shooting rampage on Utoeya Island killed 92 people on Friday.

Norwegian police have since arrested 32 year-old right-wing anti-Islam fanatic Anders Behring Breivik, as the country comes to terms with its worst attack since World War II and the single worst attack by a lone gunman.

85 of the casualties were young people attending the annual summer camp for the youth wing of Norway’s ruling Labour party.

One of the survivors told news agency Reuters that the gunman was dressed as a policeman and “would tell people to come over: ‘It’s OK, you’re safe, we’re coming to help you.’ And then I saw about 20 people come toward him and he shot them at close range.”

Another survivor told media that Breivik “seemed very focused. He took his time and picked victims out one by one. People lay on the ground, and he went over them and shot them in the back. He shot them all twice to make sure they were dead.”

Breivik had undergone compulsory military training as part of Norway’s national service and held licenses for several firearms, including automatic weapons. He surrendered to armed police who arrived at the Utoeya Island camp 40 minutes after being called by panicked attendees.

Police are investigating whether the car bomb, which exploded outside government offices in Oslo, was linked to Brevik’s purchase of six tons of fertiliser for a farm he bought 10 weeks ago.

Al-jazeera reported that under Norwegian law, Breivik faces a maximum sentence of 21 years extendable indefinitely in five year increments.

Norway has meanwhile entered a period of national mourning.

“This is beyond comprehension. It’s a nightmare,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told press in Oslo.

In his letter to the Norwegian King, President Nasheed said he was “deeply shocked and saddened to hear about the bomb attack on government buildings in Oslo and the subsequent shooting on Utoeya Island. The Government and the people of the Maldives and I condemn this wanton act of terror in the strongest terms. At this time of distress I extend my profound sympathy and support to Your Majesty, the Government and the people of Norway.”

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Z-DRP opens new office for former President Gayoom

The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party’s (DRP) Z-faction opened its new office in Male’ this morning for use by the party’s ‘Honorary Leader’ (Zaeem) former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Gayoom told press at the function that a number of people from Male’ and the atolls had requested meetings with him and invited party members and supporters to seek appointments at the new Z-DRP office.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Gayoom expressed gratitude to benefactors who arranged to pay rent as well as salaries for staff. The former president also thanked DRP Deputy Leader Ilham Ahmed and Umar Naseer for their efforts.

The Z-DRP office is located on Bodhuthakurufaanumagu a short distance from the official DRP office. The party marks its sixth anniversary today with separate events by the two factions led by the former president and his successor Ahmed Thasmeen Ali.

To kick off the activities of the new opposition coalition after breaking off from the main opposition DRP, the Z-faction announced a rally tonight at artificial beach, with former President Gayoom in attendance.

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Deputy Speaker Nazim appointed Opposition Parliamentary Group Leader

A new coalition of opposition MPs from the Peoples Alliance (PA), Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP)’s Z-Faction, Jumhoory Party (JP) and Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) last night appointed the new group’s leader, deputy leaders, spokesperson and whips.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament and PA MP Ahmed Nazim was chosen as the leader of the Opposition Parliamentary Group.

DQP MP Riyaz Rasheed and Z-DRP MP Ilham Ahmed were appointed as deputy leaders of the parliamentary group while Z-DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf was appointed spokesperson.

Z-DRP MP Hamdhoo Hameed was appointed as the “government watch” and PA MP Abdula Azeez Jamal Abu Bakur, Z-Faction MP Ali Arif, MP Ahmed Nihan, MP Abdul Muhsin, MP Mohamed Rafeeq and independent MP Ibrahim Riza were appointed as whips.

Deputy Leader of DRP Ahmed ‘Mavota’ Shareef meanwhile told Minivan News that the current political situation of the Maldives was very fluid.

“Today everyone needs power and to get that power one might do anything, be it out of the law or within the law,” Shareef said.

Shareef predicted that according to the way things were going, DRP MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali “will not lose the position of minority leader in parliament.”

“We do not support the policy of the government, that is why DRP is here, and we will only support people that support the policy of DRP.”

Announcing the decision to create the new opposition parliamentary group, MP Mahlouf said Thasmeen was also welcome to join the opposition parliamentary group.

Thasmeen did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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Alidhoo resort staff on strike over unpaid wages

Maldivian staff working at Alidhoo Resort in Haa Alifu Atoll have declared themselves on strike claiming that the management of the resort had not paid them salary for last month.

The resort is operated by Yacht Tours, owned by local businessman and former MP Abdulla Jabir.

“It is almost the end of this month and Ramadan is coming up – we have to send money to our families back on the islands and we are really broke,” said a staff member working in the resort.

He claimed allowances of the staffs working in the resort had not been paid for the last three months, including service charge and overtime.

“Last week we spoke with the management about our salaries and they said we will be paid today, and today they said they will pay us next Monday,” he said. “Now we are not very confident with this management so we have decided to continue this strike until they pay us.”

The management first told staff that the payments were delayed because the chairman of the company was not in the Maldives, he continued.

“When he came back, they said the banks were not giving money to the resorts – how can we believe them now?” the staff member said.

He claimed that expatriates working on the island had not received their salaries for the past three months.

“They want to join us in the strike but they fear that they might be fired and sent back to their countries,” he said, adding that the expats were supporting the strike although they were not physically involved.

Vice President of Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) Mauroof Zakir told Minivan News that TEAM was not officially involved in the strike.

“TEAM has decided not to participate in any strike that is conducted without informing TEAM prior to the commencement of the strike,” Mauroof said. “However, we have given Alidhoo staff instructions.”

Mauroof said TEAM made the decision in a recent meeting because “whenever the strike reaches an uncontrollable status, that’s when the staff see TEAM, and when it reaches that situation it is very hard for us to solve the issues.”

Chairman of Yatch Tours Abdulla Jabir told Minivan News that the delay was caused because he was not in town.

“It will be arranged sometime today,” he said. “The payments were delayed because I was not here.”

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Expatriate worker dies of dengue

An expatriate worker has died of dengue haemorrhagic fever, after being infected on Konottaa in Gaaf Dhaal Atoll.

The 37 year-old Indian national died during treatment at Thinadhoo Regional Hospital.

“He died of dengue shock syndrome less than three hours into treatment,” hospital overseer Aminath Abdul Hakeem told Haveeru.

Five more workers from the island tested positive to the disease, and were treated at the hospital.

Meanwhile, a team from Thinadhoo was dispatched to destroy breeding grounds and fog the island, which is being developed as a resort.

Nine people have died of the mosquito-borne disease this year.

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Tour giant funding project to raise resistance of coral reefs in the Maldives

Travel giant Kuoni, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and local environmental consultancy Seamarc have launched a comprehensive project to protect coral reefs and address the impact of climate change in the Maldives.

Speaking at the launch of the project this week at the Nalahiya hotel in Male’, Kuoni’s Head of Corporate Responsibility Matthias Leisinger observed that “tourism is like fire. You can cook with it, but it can also burn your house down.”

Kuoni has conducted a similar project in Egypt, targeting the Red Sea. Such projects were, Leisinger said, investment by the company in the long-term sustainability of destinations and a tool well within the company’s business model.

The 100 year-old leisure travel operator employs 10,000 people across 40 countries, and had as a result of its breadth broadened its scope from travel and tour provision to “destination management”.

“Investment in corporate social responsibility is a long-term business tool,” Leisinger said. Tackling practices such as sex tourism, for instance, was also a way of protecting the company’s brand, he explained.

Ensuring that hotels had no waste on beach, that islands had infrastructure such as sewerage plants and that staff were treated fairly increased the quality of the company’s end product, which affected its bottom line, he explained.

One aspect of the project involves establishing waste management facilities on 10 inhabited islands near Kuoni resorts. According to the project synopsis, “islanders will be taught to segregate waste at household level and bins will be provided to store the waste separately until removal from the island. A once-off large clean up may need to be organised before implementation of the system as most islands have accumulated waste over time.”

As well as improving the environment of the local island and allowing the resort to tick one of its ‘corporate social responsibility’ boxes, the facilities will “reduce the waste that washes up on the shores of the resorts themselves.”

A key focus of the project is protection and management of the resorts’ housereefs, which are currently protected by law from all fishing activities apart from bait fishing, “and as such, these areas act as marine protected areas (MPA) by default.”

However few resorts employed marine biologists to manage the housereef and limit destructive activity, and many times the boundries were ambigious “which results in unacceptable use of the reefs by outsiders leading to conflicts between the resort and local people.”

Under the project, four resorts will trial an ‘MPA management plan’ involving ecologicial surveys and the use of a warden to “drive away intruders”.

The project will also include an extensive series of training sessions and workshops for resort staff and local communities, and including on the reporting and monitoring of coral bleaching.

Senior Advisor at IUCN Dr Ameer Abdulla explained that bleaching represented the expulsion of symbiotic plants from coral due to stress factors such as pollution, sudden changes in temperature and ocean acidification, making the coral vulnerable to algae.

“Eventually the reef disintegrates, with the loss of shoreline protection and tourism benefits,” he explained.

“A bleaching event in 1998 saw close to 100 percent mortality in some areas [of the Maldives],” he said. “It was 87 percent in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, but because the area has been well managed the rate of recovery was very high.”

Tackling climate change was a broader problem requiring international effort, but local measures to reduce impacts and increase the resistance threshold of the reefs could “give the coral a fighting chance”, he explained.

Dr Abdulla noted concerns raised by dive staff at one resort that local fishermen had begun fishing for grouper on the resort’s house reef, but were unsure of their mandate and did not want to spark local conflicts.

A representative from the Ministry of Tourism, present at the launch, observed that such incidents were likely to increase “as stocks diminish elsewhere.”

The representative also noted new challenges arising with the changing market profile of tourism in the country – whereas visitors from European countries such as France and Germany responded well to requests to respect the natural environment, “the market is changing, and Chinese guests are walking on the reefs, catching and eating crabs… During a recent visit to Shanghai we tried to get the message across, but it’s a very different culture.”

A representative from the Marine Research Centre (MRC) retaliated that it was in the interests of the Tourism Ministry to legally mandate resorts “to take responsibility for the natural environment for the duration of the lease.”

Much of the country’s lucrative resort industry “remains very closed,” he observed.

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Rock Paper Scissors to play in Olympus backyard on July 27

Well known local rock band ‘Rock Paper Scissors’ (RPS) are planning a music show with a slight difference.

The show to be held on July 27 at the Olympus backyard compound will be different to most music shows held in Male’, said band member Akif Rafeeq.

“We chose this venue because of its relative smaller size, we want to create a more intimate experience for our fans, and have a bit more crowd interaction,” he said.

The bands aims to have around 300 to 350 fans turn up for the show.

Another famous band in Male’ hugely popular with youth, ‘1 Knight Stand’ will also be playing on the night.

Rock Paper Scissors were formed in 2009 and are probably most well known for winning the 2009 Maldives Breakout Festival. The band has since played internationally including the 2010 O2 Arena showcase in the UK as well as headlining the 2010 Malaysian Breakout Festival.

Tickets will be available at Music World, Time Zone and at Olympus.

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Cabinet appoints sub-committee to investigate 2003 shooting at Maafushi jail

Cabinet has decided to investigate who gave the order to shoot inmates in Maafushi jail in September 2003, an incident in which three inmates died.

Further details were not mentioned, and Press Secretary for the President’s Office, Mohamed Zuhair, did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

In June this year three of the 12 former prison guards sentenced to death – who were living at large – were arrested by police for the enforcement of their 25 year sentence.

During the trial, 13 guards were accused of murdering three inmates and all were found guilty of the crime and sentenced to death by the Criminal Court.

The 13th person, the head of the prison that time, was later pardoned by the High Court. Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom then used presidential privilege to commute the death sentences of the others to 25 year imprisonment.

Maafushi Jail ShootingState Home Minister Mohamed Naeem told Minivan News in June that the documents at the Home Ministry showed that the 12 officers were at first kept in Maafushi Prison until the new prison head sent a letter to the-then Home Minister Ahmed Thasmeen Ali – now the leader of the opposition – that it was unsafe for the 12 to be among the other inmates.

“They were then transferred to Dhoonidhoo prison, and after two months another letter was sent to Thasmeen from the then Deputy Police Commission saying that there were no lawful grounds for keeping convicts in Dhoonidhoo for the implementing of their verdicts,” he said. “And that was the end of the document trail. We do not know what Thasmeen said in reply, or how they managed to stay at large.”

Prison guards at Maafushi claimed to have shot the inmates to control a prison riot sparked by the custodial death of fellow inmate Evan Naseem, who allegedly died of injuries sustained during the brutal torture he was subjected to inside the prison. His death – and his family’s decision to display the body and his injuries – is considered a watershed moment in Maldivian politics that led to the ousting of the former President.

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