No proposals for i-Havan, focusing on controlling debt: Dr. Shainee

Fisheries Minister Dr. Mohamed Shainee has claimed the state had not yet received any proposals for the Government backed i-Havan initiative.

Speaking to India’s The Wire, Dr. Shainee said while no parties had submitted proposals for the project, feasibility studies were underway. He also confirmed that no funding has been allotted to the project as well.

I-Havan is an integrated development project in Ihavanadhippolhu area, focusing on development of port, airport and fuel bunkering facilities. The project also features real estate and other trade components. The i-Havan project is a key electoral pledge of President Abdullah Yameen – a project which to date is still languishing in the planning stages.

Speaking in 2015 about i-Havan project, Dr. Shainee announced that the Saudi Government had backed the entire project.

Similarly, the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) initiative announced by the Government is yet to show any visible results. The budget for 2016, had carved out MVR 1.5 billion as projected earnings from the initiative. That amount is unaccounted for. The Government had also projected earnings of MVR 500 million from SEZ initiatives for this year as well.

The Wire also drew parallels between Maldives and Sri Lanka. Currently Sri Lanka is under a massive external debt partially due to the Chinese who were building massive infrastructure projects. When questioned about a similar debt trap, Dr. Shainee said the Government was “very careful” about the debt situation. He noted that a surplus budget served to allay fears that Maldives could sink into a debt trap.

The debt figures have skyrocketed over the past three years, in part due to the large scale infrastructure projects spearheaded by the Government. At the end of 2014, budget deficit was at MVR 1.3 billion. The figure shot to MVR 4.3 billion at the end of 2016. Total debt at end of 2016 was MVR 36.9 billion, with figure hitting MVR 41.6 billion by the end of this year.