Tag: STO

STO signs agreement to supply equipment to construct Maafushi Prison wall

The State Trading Organisation (STO) has signed a contract with the Department of Correctional Services to supply equipment needed in order to construct a security wall encircling the Maafushi Prison.

Haveeru reported that Managing Director of the STO Adam Azim provided assurance that the company would provide all the necessary equipment as per schedule, and would cooperate fully with the correctional services.

The wall, which is to be built using the paid labour of the prisoners is estimated to cost MVR7 million (US$460,000), with more than half of the total being spent on equipment.

The government’s decision to build the wall came after the escape of two prisoners – both serving life sentences – through some ventilation shafts in their cells.

The Maldives Police Service had previously stated that it would assist correctional services in looking after the security of the prison by permanently stationing a police team on the island.

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STO to import oil, staples and pharmaceuticals only

State wholesaler State Trading Organization (STO) will focus solely on importing fuel, food staples and pharmaceuticals, the Economic Council has announced at a press conference today.

The move is part of the government’s decision to move STO out of the retail business in order to encourage private businesses, Economic Development Minister Mohamed Saeed said.

However, the STO has recently launched a new brand of groceries called Noofahi as well as announcing plans to expand the supermarket at the STO Trading Center in Malé.

Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb added that STO will be restructured and will build new fuel storage facilities, establish a shipping fleet to import oil and will take measures to increase fuel security.

Meanwhile, STO MD Adam Azim today announced a MVR1.25 reduction on a liter of petrol and diesel following a request by President Abdulla Yameen.

Adeeb at today’s press conference pledged to further decrease fuel prices and said the government is looking into ways to reduce prices on jet fuel for domestic transport

Minister of Youth Mohamed Maleeh Jamal said the “historic” reduction would address rising inflation.

The Economic Council also said a German research vessel has found hydrocarbon source rocks in the Maldives and said the government is working with a Japan’s Mitsui and Taisei, and China’s Beijing Urban Construction Group (BUCG) to upgrade the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

The Maldives intends to ask for a preferential trade mechanism with China following partnership in China’s maritime Silk Road.

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad said the Economic Council will hold monthly meetings with state owned enterprises to address challenges, facilitate financing, and strengthen management.

Oil exploration

Fisheries Minister Dr Mohamed Shainee said a preliminary assessment of hydrocarbons by Germany’s Hamburg University had brought “happy signals.”

The research team will handover detailed assessment in the first quarter of 2015, he said.

Although the presence of hydrocarbon source rocks have been confirmed, further research and analysis is required to determine if there are hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Maldives and their exact locations, Shainee explained.

The inner atoll ocean basins and atoll slopes have been examined, and new 3D seismic data will provide a more complete picture of presence of hydrocarbons, he said.

The government is setting up renewable energy alternatives in Malé and Addu, but such sources can only cater to 30 percent of Maldivian energy requirements, Shainee said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan, Indian, Norwegian, and British companies have expressed interest in assisting Maldives in oil exploration.

Approximately 30 percent of Maldives GDP is spent on fuel imports.

Airport Development

Adeeb revealed today that the Maldives is working with Japan’s Mitsui and Taisei, and China’s BUCG on a master plan for airport development.

The government intends to secure a US$600 million loan from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and China Exim Bank for the venture.

Once loans are sanctioned, the work will be contracted out, he added. In the meantime, the government will rehabilitate the existing runway.

Economic Development Minister Mohamed Saeed noted an increase in Chinese imports to Maldives, especially in heavy machinery, and said the Economic Council is working on establishing a preferential trade mechanism.

A technical team from China is due to visit the Maldives to undertake a survey for the Malé – Hulhulé bridge in the near future, the council said.

The council also revealed that the Maldives has signed a maritime labor convention, and intends to establish an open ship registry in order to expand maritime businesses such as offshore shipping and to increase luxury cruise ship arrivals in the country.

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Maldivians to take Gaza fundraising efforts to new heights

Maldivian efforts to assist the people of Palestine will culminate in an unprecedented 33 hour telethon aired across multiple participating broadcasters.

Numerous media organisation have initiated a telethon titled ‘I will also help’ to raise funds for victims of the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza. It will air from 2:30pm on Friday (August 8).

The organisers will also assist in arranging a joining of hands across the capital Malé at 5pm on Saturday, while the fundraising – with over US$350,000 already in the Help Gaza Fund – is set to grow as both state and private companies urge staff to donate wages to the fund.

All TV channels and radio stations taking part in the telethon will air the same live program with content – produced by a joint content committee – on the current situation in Gaza to be broadcast through out the programme.

Live updates of donations and details of fundraising and solidarity events organised by councils and NGOs across the country will also feature.

Solidarity

This week Maldives Customs Service and Maldives Ports Limited jointly opened a joint fund where employees of both institutions agreed to donate one day’s basic salary. Faafu Atoll Hospital has also decided to join this campaign.

In addition to one day salaries of their employees, newspaper Haveeru has decided to donate the total revenue generated in advertisement on their online and print news this Thursday (August 7). The paper hopes that this will allow people to donate by placing advertisements on the paper as well.

The state owned State Trading Organization (STO) has announced it will donate a percentage of its two major shops’ sales on on August 8 and 9, five percent from STO Home Improvement, and two percent from STO Super Mart.

STO is also coordinating with the media telethon group for the joining of hands event during which people will stand holding hands across Boduthakurufaanu Magu in Malé starting from the tsunami monument.

Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir, an organiser and President of the Maldives Journalism Association, requested everyone dresses in black for the event to show that “we are taking part in their sorrow”.

“Remember how we felt when the tsunami hit the Maldives and how we requested foreign aid? Now our brothers and sisters in a situation where they need our help. I request everyone to donate to the best of their ability for this cause,” he said.

The telethon group is also selling fifteen ‘Help Gaza’ t-shirts for MVR100,000 each. Two have already been booked – one by the STO for President Abdulla Yameen and another by Kooddoo Fisheries Maldives Limited for the first lady.4

Joining of funds

After the Adhaalath Party endorsed the telethon, both parties have agreed to join their funds, with the party’s Help Gaza Fund being pooled with the telethon collection from Friday.

The Help Gaza Fund has received over MVR5.48million (US$355,600), the party said today. Collection of funds is on halt for now and will begin again with the the telethon on Friday, explained an Adhaalath spokesperson.

The donations from the joint fund will be handed over to the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) – chosen because they have worked with Adhaalath in previous fund raising events such as the 2010 Pakistan Relief Fund to help flood victims and the 2009 Gaza Fund.

QRCS has assured that these fund will reach the people of Gaza in the form of food and medicine through their relief efforts in area.

Meanwhile, the Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC) are also raising funds in response to an emergency appeal for US$14.7 million by the Palestine Red Crescent Society on July 14. The MRC Palestine Relief Fund was established on July 20 will continue collecting until August 15.

Funds will be raised through MRC Emergency Relief Fund bank accounts, donation boxes and door-to-door collection across the country.

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STO plans pharmacy and supermarket in Hulhumalé

The State Trading Organisation (STO) has plans to open both a pharmacy and a supermarket in Hulhumalé, local media has reported.

STO Managing Director of Adam Azim has said that a supermarket for the residents of the Malé suburb would ease the numbers of people having to travel across to the main island of the capital.

Meanwhile, Azim is also reported to have told media that a new 24 hour pharmacy will open within the next two weeks.

“This is something that is needed immediately for the people. The people of Hulhumalé have to travel all the way to Malé to buy medicine most of the time,” Miadhu quoted Azim as saying.

The artificial island of Hulhumalé has been targetted for a number of developments by the current government.

Plans have recently been finalised to double the size of the island, while President Abdulla Yameen has plans to develop a ‘youth city’ of 50,000 people, serviced by a bridge between the capital’s largest two islands.

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High Court upholds Civil Court ruling against Meridian Services

The Maldivian High Court has upheld the Civil Court ruling that the State Trading Organization (STO) had not acted against the law in limiting the credit amount of fuel released to Meridian Services, and decreasing the duration within which the company needs to pay back the owed money to STO.

Meridian Services had appealed the case at the High Court alleging that the Civil Court sentence was against legal principles.

The case was presided over by High Court judges Abdulla Hameed, Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, and Shuaib Hussain Zakariya.

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STO makes MVR 44 million profits in May

State wholesaler State Trading Organization (STO) made a profit of MVR 44 million in May, the company has said.

STO Managing Director Adam Azim told local media that the company has been able to maintain projected profits due to cuts in expenditure.

In November, President Abdulla Yameen declared that the STO was bankrupt.

The Managing Director at the time Shahid Ali was dismissed and Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim’s brother Adam Azim was appointed to the post.

Shahid told an emergency meeting of parliament in early November that government-owned companies had failed to pay the STO the almost US$40 million it was owed, and appealed to the central bank to use the foreign currency reserves to bail it out of its debt.

In January, STO launched a campaign to cut operational costs by MVR 50 million in 2014 (US$ 3,242,542).

The state-owned STO is the country’s primary wholesaler, responsible for bringing in the vast majority of basic foodstuffs such as rice and flour, as well as other imported commodities such as electrical goods.

It also imports the vast majority of the Maldives’ oil, used to fuel fishing and transport vessels, diesel generators, air-conditioners and water desalination plants.

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STO aiming for record MVR500 million profit this year

The State Trading Organization (STO) is aiming to reach a record MVR500 million (US$32.4 mllion) in profits this year, the company’s Managing Director Adam Azim said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference at the company’s head office, Azim said its monthly profits have been increasing since his management took charge [in November 2013], adding that the company and its subsidiaries made MVR61 million (US$3.9 million) in profits in April

Explaining that it was the largest monthly profit since its inception, Azim said the figure was a MVR12 million (US$700,000) increase from that made in April 2013.

One of the reasons for the increasing profits is the management’s efforts to reduce spending, said Azim. Another reason for the increased profits, he explained, was because the company has now started receiving some of the approximately MVR1 billion owed by the government and other state-owned companies.

Noting hat the new management has made it a priority to ensure the prices of goods sold to the public are not increased, he said that there had been a substantial decrease in the prices of construction materials sold by the company.

STO is a public company with more than ninety two percent government shares, and was established as a state owned enterprise in 1979 .

The company’s annual general meeting for the year 2013 is set to be held tomorrow night at Traders Hotel where new board director representing shareholders will be appointed.

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State Trading Organisation aims to produce 1000 jobs in 3 years

The Managing Director of the State Trading Organization (STO) Adam Azim has said that the company will produce 1000 jobs within the next 3 years.

Adam Azim said that the company is looking to establish a capable work force across the Maldives, reported local media Sun Online.

“A thousand jobs will be produced with the health sector pharmacies and hypermarkets that we plan to establish,” he added.

The company has plans to invest in the development of its staff with training and education opportunities for the next four years, Azim told Sun.

“We will invest in education, regardless of the cost,” Azim said.

The state-owned STO is the country’s primary wholesaler, responsible for bringing in the vast majority of basic foodstuffs, as well as investing in oil and the tourism industry.

The company was announced bankrupt by President Yameen in November 2013, following which the companylaunched a campaign to cut operational costs by MVR50 million in 2014 (US$ 3,242,542).

More recently, in March 2014, the STO told local media that a five-star hotel it is building in Hulhumalé will be fully completed by January 2015.

STO has also announced on April 6 2014 that they will be placing three additional oil storage tanks in Kafu Fuadhoo, in a bid to increase the oil capacity.

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Three additional oil tanks to be placed in Funadhoo

The State Trading Organisation (STO) has announced plans to place three additional oil storage tanks in Kaafu Funadhoo, just off the northern side of the capital Malé.

Managing Director of STO Adam Azim said that the Maldives’ oil storage capacity needs to be increased, according to local media Sun Online.

“We are planning to place three more tanks in Funadhoo. If the oil reserve continues to decline at the present rate, we might face difficulties later. We’re planning to prepare for that,” the news outlet reported.

He added that efforts will begin soon to facilitate bigger vessels to enter the harbour.

“Right now the harbour can take up to about 8,000 ton vessels. We want to increase it to about 15,000 or 16,000 ton vessels.”

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