Zameer: Development projects will proceed; no island will be left behind

Finance Minister Moosa Zameer has assured that no island will be left behind in terms of development projects in the state budget proposed for next year.

Minister Zameer attended the Parliament on Monday to hear the debate on the proposed state budget for next year.

During the debate, some lawmakers raised concerns regarding stalled projects at islands and the government’s failure to commence new projects in certain sectors despite a year in office. They also expressed concern over the fact the budget proposed for next year did not specify the projects planned for the islands.

Responding to the concerns, Minister Zameer said previous budgets listed numerous projects despite lacking the funds to implement them.

“As I have said before at the Budget Committee, when projects are commenced with a small budget, many of them end up stalled and in the pipeline. This is either due to lack of budget or cash flow. The other reason is due to incompetence of the contractor,” he said.

The Minister, as an example, pointed out that state-owned Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) was awarded projects almost on a daily basis during previous years; racking up about MVR 18 billion worth of projects with no way to finance them. Henceforth, the Minister said the budget for next year was formulated in consideration of all these matters.

“With consideration of all these matters, project fund allocation was done this way to proceed with projects that are on the President’s priority list. What I want to assure is that no island is left behind in the priority list we currently have,” he said.

Speaking during the debate, MDA’s Velidhoo MP Mohamed Abbas described the past administration’s five years and the current administration’s one year as a dark period for his constituency.

“I have knocked on every door of this government,” he stressed, while underscoring he was not consulted at any stage in formulating the budget and matters related to development including the development of his constituency.

Abbas accused the current administration of acting contradictory to its developmental pledge. He underscored the importance of dialogue in any circumstance and added that the most beneficial approach for both the government and the public is to commence and finish projects early.

North Galolhu MP Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudoo) said expenses incurred for the people should only be decreased after cutting down expenditures on all other fronts. He cited this as the only course of action as the government’s waste can be counted in millions.

The budget debate will take place over the course of four days. The most pertinent concern raised by both pro-government and opposition lawmakers during the debate had been over the fact the budget fails to specify the details of the projects planned for islands.