Govt extends deadline for water and sewerage works by 2 years

The Maldivian Parliament on Monday approved a two-year extension for the establishment of water and sewerage services across all inhabited islands in the nation. This amendment to the Water and Sewerage Act mandates that all residential islands must possess adequate water and sewerage systems by the end of 2027.

The amendment, proposed by the government on the 22nd of last month, passed with 61 votes out of 68 members present, with seven members voting against.

Under the previous iteration of the Act, all necessary arrangements for the establishment and operation of water and sewerage systems in residential islands were to be completed within five years of the Act's enactment. As the Water and Sewerage Act came into force in 2020, this had implied a completion deadline of the end of the current year, absent legislative amendment.

The previous MDP government had initiated water and sewerage projects on numerous islands, irrespective of their size. However, the global COVID-19 pandemic significantly hindered the completion of many of these projects by the end of their term.

The government’s proposal for the amendment followed Housing Minister Dr. Abdulla Muthalib’s June announcement to parliament. He cited delays in service delivery on most islands where sanitation projects were otherwise complete, attributing these setbacks to the unavailability of essential documents for the User Rights Agreement (URA) and requisite permissions from the tender board.

Concerns regarding the implementation of projects across different parts of the country have been a persistent issue since the current government took office. The government attributed its failure to implement projects in rural areas last year to the 2024 budget passed by the 19th Parliament, which it described as a ‘mockery’. The government contended that the budget, passed by the then-MDP-super-majority parliament, did not allocate sufficient funds for the projects.