MVR 183 mn loan agreement signed for Fuvahmulah coastal protection

Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (Kuwait Fund) and Maldivian government has signed the MVR 183 million loan agreement for the Fuvahmulah Coastal Protection Project.

The loan agreement was signed in a function held at Stelco this Thursday by Minister of Finance and Treasury, Ahmed Munawwar and Deputy Director-General of Kuwait Fund, Hisham Ibrahim Al-Waqayan.

Speaking during the function, Minister Munawwar said the Fuvahmulah Coastal Protection Project was funded through non-reimbursable financial aid from Netherlands Enterprise Agency and Kuwait Fund, as well as loan assistance from Kuwait Fund.

Munawwar said Kuwait Fund has provided a loan of 3.6 million Kuwaiti Dinar (USD 11.88 million or MVR 183.18 million), and that the rest of the finance will be provided by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.

He said the project would prove to be beneficial to environmental, economic and social development of Fuvahmulah City.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director-General of Kuwait Fund, Al-Waqayan noted that Kuwait Fund started providing financial assistance to countries outside the Arab continent in 1974, and that

Maldives had been one of the first countries the institute had provided assistance to.

He said the Maldivian administration during that time had negotiated with Kuwait Fund for financial assistance to build the national airport in Hulhule’, and that the institution had provided its assistance to the project.

The function was also attended by Minister of Environment and Energy, Toriq Ibrahim who said erosion in Fuvahmulah City had been brought to attention a decade ago. And that discussions for the Fuvahmulah Coastal Protection Project began in 2014.

Toriq said assistance by Kuwait Fund in the project had been a huge relief, and that what remained was funding by Netherlands Enterprise Agency and the tender process.

The project will include revetment around a 2,650-meter area.

The loan assistance by Kuwait Fund is a concessional loan payable with 1.5 percent interest over a period of 20 years, after a grace period of four years.