2025 will be the most productive year for parliament: Speaker

The Speaker of Parliament, Abdul Raheem Abdulla on Tuesday has said the new year will be the most productive year for the parliament.

During the ‘Raajje Miadhu’ program on Public Service Media (PSM), the state-run TV, Abdul Raheem assured the parliament will engage in several crucial works focused on public interest.

“I would like to assure the citizens that they will be satisfied with the 20^th Parliament Assembly. We assure to attend to the responsibilities entrusted to us by the citizens,” Abdul Raheem said.

He also commended the works carried out at the parliament last year, and noted several crucial works were completed. Abdul Raheem expressed he was pleased with the overall performance of the parliament in 2024, including the expeditious work of the parliament sittings and committee works.

Some of the most prominent works of the parliament last year included amendments to the Constitution, introduction of tourism tax hikes, and the amendments to the Tobacco Control Act.

The first state budget passed by the parliament which has the People’s National Congress (PNC) super majority, will be utilized in 2025. Earlier, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu had described this budget would usher in a golden era of housing to the Maldives.

According to Abdul Raheem, carrying out development projects with the approved MVR 56.6 billion budget for this year will not pose any challenges, and added that the highest number of projects would be carried out in 2025.

The current government said that development projects during the first year of its administration did not proceed owing to lack of funds in the state budget, which had been approved by the former administration.

The previous parliament assembly approved an MVR 49.8 billion state budget for 2024, for which the current parliament added a supplementary of MVR 5.1 billion later last year.