Ministry spends over MVR 500,000 on ‘Olhu Hiyaa’

Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Welfare states the Ministry has spent over MVR 500,000 on ‘Olhu Hiyaa’ since taking over the pet care facility in Hulhumale’ Farukolhu Fushi.

The Ministry took over facility on February 26^th and took in 15 cats under the first batch.

The Ministry responded to a request filed by Sun seeking information regarding the pet care facility under the Right to Information Act.

According to the Ministry, it has incurred a total of MVR 570,695.26 for the facility since its takeover.

An additional 38 cats were taken into the facility after May 14^th, the Ministry said. The Ministry detailed that there are 68 cats in the facility at present alongside earlier batches.

Olhu Hiyaa was first overseen by Male’ City Council. However, the Ministry took over the facility, citing the Council had failed to complete some of the works at the facility as instructed by the Ministry.

The Ministry further said it took over the facility after having repeatedly requested Male’ City Council to resolve the issues despite which the Council had failed to address them. They include lack of waste management system in place to hand biological waste and lack of designated cages to quarantine cats that a newly brought into the facility, among others.

The Ministry, in its RTI response, detailed further works they have undertaken and are undertaking at the facility. They include:

• Fixing five cages in the facility’s healthy hold, from which cats were breaking out 
• Painting the floor and walls at the facility to ease the cleaning process
• Efforts to obtain necessary licenses to procure controlled drugs required for the facility
• Obtaining building usage permit from HDC and seeking approval for fire safety plan

The Ministry said MVR 286,625.78 was spent on the construction and maintenance of Olhu Hiyaa, with an additional MVR 110,930.11 allocated for the procurement of necessary items for the facility.

The Ministry acknowledged that the purpose of ‘Olhu Hiyaa’ has not been realized to its fullest extent as of yet. Nevertheless, the Ministry said it was undertaking efforts to reduce stray cats on Malle’ streets while expressing hope to fully realize the purpose of the facility.

Olhu Hiyaa was developed to address the growing stray cat population in Male’ which had given rise to public health concerns, as excrement litter the streets, especially in areas with a large number of cats. The government has been criticized over the Ministry’s failure to achieve this goal months since the facility was inaugurated.