Sports minister: Cost of ongoing projects higher than two years’ budget

The cost of ongoing sports projects is higher than the total budget allocation for two years, says Sports Minister Abdulla Rafiu.

Rafiu, who was summoned to the Parliament on Wednesday morning, made the remark in response to a question by Kanditheemu MP Ameen Faisal.

Rafiu said that there are multiple ongoing projects, but not enough funds to complete them.

He said that the cost of projects earmarked in this year’s budget is higher than the budget allocation for two years.

“We are facing huge challenges. We have a lot of projects. But as a I mentioned before, the total value of the projects is higher than two years’ budget,” he said.

Rafiu said the projects will therefore be prioritized based on the wishes of local communities. He said the ministry has decided to engage in discussions with local councils to decide which projects will be prioritized.

He said the ministry hopes to announce and run more projects during the third or fourth quarter of this year.

Rafiu has repeatedly expressed concern over lack of funds to run planned projects. He said that the budget allocation for some of the projects was either too low or excessively high.

In a visit to the Parliament back in May, Rafiu said that the allocations made in the 2024 budget for some multimillion Rufiyaa projects were as low as MVR 100,000.