Tag: minivan news

MNDF military hospital to provide medical services to immigration department

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) military hospital is to begin to provide medical services to employees of the Department of Immigration and Emigration.

Defence Minister Colonel Mohamed Nazim was quoted in local media as saying that all services of the military hospital are now available under Aasandha to the employees of the immigration department.

“Employees of Immigration Department and their families can obtain medical treatment under Aasandha from the military hospital. This includes their husbands and wives. We are trying to provide the best medical services to our employees,” he told Sun Online.

The Department of Immigration and Emigration was recently transferred from the under the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Ministry of Defence.

According to the President’s Office, the decision to transfer the department was taken to make administration of the country’s immigration system more efficient.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) last week questioned the legality of the decision to transfer control of the Department of Immigration and Emigration to the Defence Ministry.

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Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid on official visit to Angola

Parliamentary Speaker Abdulla Shahid has commenced a three day visit Angola today in order to reinforce inter-parliamentary cooperative ties between the two countries, an African news service has said.

During his stay in the country, Shahid will meet with his Angolan counterpart, Fernando Da Piedade Dias dos Santos as well as heads of parliamentary groups of the national assembly.

According to a press note from the Angolan national assembly, the agenda includes official talks between the parliamentary delegations of Angola and Maldives, and an official dinner offered by the Angolan speaker of the national assembly.

The press note reads that Shahid will also visit the new city of Kilamba in Luanda, in order to learn about the national housing boosting programme.

Shahid is to return on January 9, according to the African news source.

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Club Faru resort to be closed within two months: Tourism Minister

Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb has revealed that the Club Faru resort is to be closed down within two months after the government took over the property this weekend.

On Saturday (January 5), the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture said it had assumed control of Club Faru after the resort’s operators were said to have failed to hand over the property following the expiry of their lease agreement.

Adheeb told Minivan News that the resort would be closed as part of the government’s plans to begin the second phase of “reclaiming” Hulhumale’ this year.

“The resort is to be operated by a government company for two months and it will then be closed down and reclaimed,” he said.  “It was a seven year lease that expired on November 15. Now the government has decided to reclaim that part of Hulhumale’,” he said today.

The proposed closure has been described as “interesting” by the former secretary general of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), who expressed hope that the government would treat all resort operators equally going forward.

Adheeb today maintained that his ministry would not favour certain resort operators over others in terms of their treatment.

According to the tourism minister, the government offered other companies the chance to temporarily manage Club Faru after the first phase of reclaiming Hulhumale’ was completed.

However, Adheeb claimed that after the expiry of a seven-year lease on November 15, 2012, the resort’s operators had gone to court on two separate occasions to try and extend their lease.  He added that the operators had been unsuccessful on both attempts to obtain an injunction against the government.

Despite the lease termination deadline expiring last year and the subsequent takeover on Saturday, Club Faru’s website – when accessed at the time of press – displayed a pop-up sign dismissing rumours that the resort will be closed or temporarily shut down for renovation between November 1 to April 31.

“Attention!!! Against different phrased rumours that seem to circulate in the internet and in certain travel agencies: Fihalhohi and/or Club Faru will neither be closed nor will there be any renovation from November 1 to April 31 that could lead to disturbance. This info is valid for Fihalhohi and Club Faru. Both Islands continue as is,” the pop-up statement reads.

Management at Club Faru resort were not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

Speaking to local media, Adheeb claimed that the handover had gone “smoothly” when he visited the resort yesterday (January 5).

“Everything went quite smoothly. The Finance Ministry’s financial controller, tourism’s permanent secretary, and legal officials of the ministry along with me came to the resort and took over,” he said.

“We will oversee the operations of the island as the [tourism] ministry has reclaimed ownership of this resort,” Adheeb told local newspaper Haveeru.

Local media reports have claimed that the government had assumed ownership of the island property while tourists were still holidaying at the resort.

According to Adheeb, an Italian company called Club Med had originally invested in the resort. However, after Club Faru was designated part of the Hulhumale’ reclamation plan seven years ago, Club Med was given another island as compensation.

Local media reported that the government leased the island for a period of five years on November 16 1995, after a delay in the second phase of reclaiming Hulhumale’. Following the expiry of the five year lease, it was then extended on an annual basis.

All resort operators treated the same: Adheeb

When contacted today, Former Secretary General of MATI ‘Sim’ Mohamed Ibrahim described the Club Faru handover as “interesting”, adding that no operators should be favoured when it comes to breaching legal contracts.

“While it is important that legal contracts are kept to and enforced, it is also important that individual resort operators are treated the same and not differently.  It appears that Club Faru has taken precedence over others, especially as Hulhumale’ is earmarked for development,” Sim told Minivan News.

Responding to the comments, Adheeb said that the tourism ministry did not favour any resort operator over another.

While there are no other resorts in the Maldives where an operating licence has been cancelled, Adheeb claimed that when dealing with rent payments, each resort will always have to pay or face a termination notice.

The tourism minister claimed that when he first took up his position following February’s controversial transfer of power, there were 12 resorts found to be not paying rent at the time. However, through flexibility on the interest rates, he maintained there were now “no resorts not paying rent”.

“We are not tolerating resorts who do not pay rent, any operating resort has to pay. Those who are not paying already have the termination notice. This culture has to go, by the end of this year all resorts will be paying and it will become a more stable industry,” Adheeb said.

At a press conference held on December 31, 2012, Adheeb said that resort operator Yacht Tours had been sent termination notices for both Alidhoo and Kudarah resorts, with a seven day period for handover.

He added that while the ministry had come to a payment system agreement with a number of other companies, Yacht Tours had sent no official written communication in regard to the payment of outstanding rents.

Following the termination notice, Yacht Tours, a company owned by opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Abdulla Jabir, said it will take the government to court over the dispute.  The company has alleged that the Tourism Ministry had failed to responded to correspondence it had sent on the matter of rent payments.

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80 years to save country should Adhaalath Party be dissolved: Sheikh Imran

Adhaalath Party Leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla has warned it could take “80 years” to save the country should the religious conservative party be dissolved under new regulations passed by the Majlis.

If signed into law, the Political Parties Bill passed last month would require a party in the Maldives to have a minimum of 10,000 registered members.

Speaking at a rally held at Ghiyasuddin School Thursday (January 3), local media quoted Sheikh Imran as saying it was compulsory for all citizens to ensure Adhaalath Party was not dissolved.

“It would not be wrong to say that it will take 80 years to save the country and for it to revert to the present situation if Adhaalath Party is dissolved in the current political circumstances.

“Thus it is compulsory upon you to ensure that Adhaalath Party isn’t dissolved. It is compulsory upon all citizens,” he said.

Sheikh Imran claimed that efforts to limit the number of political parties in the Maldives indicated attempts to return the country to an autocratic regime.

“Social values have been torn apart. Conflicts, assault and arguments within parties have become commonplace. Things have gone so far that and mothers and children don’t speak to each other, and mothers ask children to leave their homes. So what I have to say is that a solution has to be sought to the problem of political parties,” Imran was quoted as saying in Sun Online.

Imran encouraged educated people from all over the country to join the party, adding that he would lead the campaign to dissolve political parties if people fail to establish a system by which they can coexist.

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No casualties reported in Kaafu Atoll fish processing plant blaze

Authorities have said there have been no reported casualties following a fire at a fish processing plant on the island of Hinmafushi in Kaafu Atoll today.

Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Spokesperson Colonel Abdul Raheem told Minivan News that no one had been seriously hurt in the blaze, which had been brought under control by fire-fighters earlier today.  Colonel Raheem added that the suspected cause of the fire was presently unknown.

The Maldives Police Service also confirmed that it had not been informed of any casualties as a result of the fire.  However, Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef said he could not provide further details on the incident at present as investigations were continuing.

According to local media, the factory, which is used to process fish products such as yellow fin tuna, was severely damaged during today’s blaze, resulting in the site being declared inoperable.

The Sun Online news service reported that authorities had first been notified of the fire this morning, with Hinmafushi Council President Shaan Ibrahim claiming that diesel barrels in the nearby area were believed to have been the cause of the blaze.

The councillor was reported as claiming that islanders, as well as local police and staff from a nearby resort, had attempted to try and control the fire before MNDF officers arrived about an hour after the blaze had been reported.

The factory itself is operated by a company called Maldives Quality Seafood Pvt Ltd.

Attempts by Minivan News to contact the company through details provided on its website were unsuccessful at time of press.

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President returns from private visit to Malaysia

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has returned to Male’ following a private visit to Malaysia.

President Waheed, along with First Lady Ilham Hussain, returned to Male’ on Saturday (January 5), the President’s Office website has reported.

On Thursday (January 3), President Waheed met with the Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato’ Sri Anifah Aman at the Maldives High Commission in the country as part of his trip.

According to the President’s Office website, discussions at the meeting were focused on improving bilateral relations between the two countries.

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Certain parties leasing city hall failed to pay rent: LGA

The Local Government Authority (LGA) has revealed that certain parties who have leased Male’ City Hall from the local municipal council had failed to pay the required amounts of rent.

A report compiled by the LGA, which was commissioned to probe difficulties faced by Male’ Cty Council (MCC) in fulfilling its mandate, showed that the decision to rent out city hall in order to generate revenue for the council had not been regulated.

Under the agreement to rent out the city hall, MCC members had decided to charge MVR 1,500 per day as rent.

LGA also alleged that the city hall’s availability for leasing had not been made public, which according to the authority violates the equality clause in Article 17 of the constitution.

Local media reported that MCC had been advised to recover the funds and establish a system to document the transactions of the council.

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MBC to request staff salary increase

The Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) will propose a salary increase for all of its members to parliament this year, MBC Chairman Ibrahim Umar Manik has said.

Speaking to local media, Manik said that the request for an increase in salary had been made as MBC members were not allowed to be employed elsewhere.

“The law states that the corporation should be free of all political and financial influence and influence from affluent persons. Only then can the corporation be independent,” Manik told local media.

Manik stated that the corporation is accountable to the parliament independent institutions committee, and that a request is to be made from the committee to increase staff salary.

“We are not necessarily demanding that the salaries are the same level as independent institutions and commission member salaries,” he was reported as telling the Sun Online news service.

“We informed the Public Accounts Committee of the difficulties we face because we are not allowed to be employed elsewhere, and requested that our salaries be increased. We sent this in writing, and they did not think it was necessary to do this [increase salaries]. But we will request again.”

The current salary for MBC members, as reported in local media, stands at MVR 10,0000. However, the salary of Maldives Media Council’s Board Members is just MVR 5,000.

Last year, the salary of Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) board members was increased from MVR 10,500 to MVR 15,500 following a new salary structure passed by parliament, Sun Online revealed.

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Maldivian ship’s captain threatened with drowning over unpaid salaries: crew member

Indian crew members aboard a Maldivian cargo vessel docked in Dubai have threatened to drown the ship’s captain over unpaid salaries, fellow workers have alleged in local media.

Six of the Maldivian crew aboard the Waadhee Progress vessel, currently docked at a harbour in Dubai, claim to have been continuously threatened by Indian crew members for the past three months.

A crew member told the Sun Online news agency yesterday (January 4) that the foreign nationals working on the ship were unhappy with the situation as they had not been paid for an entire year.

The crew member further alleged that the foreign crew had threatened to drown the ship’s captain if the alleged issue of outstanding salaries were not paid by the end of today (January 5).

Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Minivan News that authorities were looking into the matter, but had received little information on the vessel’s situation at present.

A crew member working aboard the Waadhee Progress has told local media that due to the vessel’s current location, it was hard to clarify the exact situation on-board.

He further alleged that an assault between the foreign crew on a previous occasion had left a fellow employee with stab wounds.

“We also haven’t received our salaries for as long as [the foreign crew]. They are threatening us. They carry knives and iron bars. The last thing they said was that the captain will be drowned if the salaries are not paid by the end of tomorrow,” the Maldivian crew member claimed.

“We are scared, haven’t even been sleeping. The company has said that they have contacted the coast guard and the police and they are looking into it. But we are still in the same situation. We have, sort of, been hijacked.”

Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Spokesperson Colonel Abdul Raheem said that the country’s coastguard had received no information regarding the incident at present.

“This matter will probably be taken up by the respective foreign ministries in Dubai and Maldives. I should imagine the Transport Ministry will also be looking into the matter,” Raheem told Minivan News.

The Dubai Maritime City Authority (DMCA) was not responding to calls from Minivan News at the time of press.

State Transport Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said that he was still involved in “airport matters” when contacted today, and was unable to comment on the issue, forwarding Minivan News to other sources in the ministry.

Meanwhile, an official from Waadhee Shipping and Trading – the company who own Waadhee Progress – told local media that the company had been informed of the situation and were looking into it.

Minivan News was awaiting a response from the company at time of press.

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