Some companies in the private sector are facing hurdles in paying salaries for their employees, due to the government’s failure to settle its dues.

Two wide-scale construction companies operating in the Maldives have confirmed this issue with RaajjeMV.

An individual heading one of the companies said that the government has not been paying dues and that the funds have been withheld.

The government owes the company MVR 10 million and although the government had assured that some amount would be issued on a monthly basis, no funds have been released since June.

He said that the government’s failure to release funds has led to some of their projects in outlying atolls coming to a standstill. Further, some of their foreign workers have also been laid off.

In addition to this, he said that the company has been unable to pay employee wages and has failed to pay the salaries of their staff for the past two months.

Stressing that monthly taxes must be settled as well, he said the government has not provided any eases in this regard and now many private companies are facing this challenge.

He stressed that they were hesitant to voice their concerns against the government publicly, out of fear of losing some of their projects and to avoid going bankrupt.

Noting that the government has now decided to allocate uninhabited islands to some companies, he said that at a time the issue of salaries being halted for employees have come into the spotlight, discussions are underway to resolve this issue.

The Ministry of Finance has evidently assured them that funds would be released by August 7.

He however, said he had no faith in the finance minister's words.

Highlighting that President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu came into power with full confidence that the private sector would flourish, he noted that they have so far only observed attempts to destroy the private sector by restricting opportunities for companies in the sector.