The Maldives Bureau of Statistics has initiated a Labor Force Survey in the Male’ area. This survey will be conducted from the 18th to the 24th of this month. Conducting surveys related to the Maldivian labor market and collecting statistics about the job market is a responsibility assigned to the Maldives Bureau of Statistics under the “Maldives Statistics Act”. The Bureau has been conducting the “Labor Force Survey” once a month since October 2024. The survey is currently being carried out in randomly selected households in the Greater Male’ area.

Areas of information collection in this survey:

* Education
* Migration
* Details of the population engaged in employment and income-generating activities
* General information about people
* Details of the population seeking and not having income-generating work
* Time spent on domestic work
* Details of the population engaged in volunteer work

The purpose of this survey is to identify the economically active population, determine the proportion of employed people, and assess the rate of new job creation. Other objectives include identifying the employed and unemployed population, determining migration rates, and obtaining data to update population projections. Additionally, the Maldives Bureau of Statistics informs that assessing the progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals is also a purpose of this survey. The Bureau has stated that the individual and household information collected from this survey will be kept confidential.

Customs has seized 1 kg of drugs that were being attempted to be smuggled into the Maldives by air. Customs stated that the weight of the drugs seized while attempting to enter the Maldives was 1.020 grams. Customs also said that when the seized drugs were initially tested, they tested positive for cocaine, which is a type of narcotic. These items were seized on the 27th of last month at Velana International Airport.

Customs had seized 3.534 kilograms of drugs in an operation conducted on the morning of March 13th this year. The drugs seized in this manner included 1,086 grams of ketamine, 2,138 grams of methamphetamine, and 310 grams of heroin. Customs also stated that the street value of these seized drugs is approximately 6.7 million rufiyaa.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has stated that the previous conflicts between various institutions and positions in the sports sector have now been resolved. The President said this while referring to the bill amending the Sports Act, which he ratified. At a special ceremony held at the President’s Office on Monday to ratify the bill, the President said that previously, the law had outlined the responsibilities of the Commissioner of Sports, the National Sports Council, and the Sports Minister in a conflicting manner.

However, the President noted that with the amendments brought to the Sports Act by the Social Committee of the People’s Majlis and the ratification of the bill, the conflicts in the responsibilities and duties of these positions have now been resolved. “The responsibilities of the Commissioner of Sports, the National Sports Council, and the Sports Minister were somewhat conflicting until today. There are difficulties arising from this. There are efforts to work together, but there are challenges due to how the law was,” the President said.

However, the President said that with the amendments now being made to the Sports Act, the responsibilities of these positions are being specified in the law in a non-conflicting manner. With the changes to the law allowing the Ministry of Sports, the Office of the Sports Commissioner, and the National Council to work independently without the responsibilities of one institution conflicting with another, the legal conflicts in managing sports associations, registering and operating sports clubs and sports organizations, and regulating them have been resolved by detailing the responsibilities of the institutions in the law.

The conflicts that previously existed in the law regarding the roles and responsibilities of the Commissioner of Sports, the National Sports Council, and the Sports Minister have been resolved through this law.”

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has given assurance that he will find solutions to fishermen’s concerns in collaboration with boat captains. He said this during a meeting held at the President’s Office to discuss the concerns of boat captains. President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said that in the meeting with boat captains, they expressed happiness that the issues they raised in the previous meeting with him were accepted and are being addressed. He also said that the boat captains noted that with the introduction of paying for fish within 48 hours, the industry has seen progress and more youth are entering the field.

The boat captains shared their concerns during this meeting. They requested to change the fish price to 20 rufiyaa as per the government’s promise, to facilitate easy access to fuel for fishermen from MIFCO, and to switch to using digital scales for weighing fish. Additionally, they proposed increasing fish aggregating devices, expanding fish weighing locations, and establishing a system for daily payment for fish caught. Providing information to PSM News about this meeting, the Vice President of the Boat Captains’ Lobby, Azvad Farooq, said that many challenges faced by fishermen and their families were shared with the President. Azvad also said that the President gave assurance that he will find solutions to the fishermen’s concerns as per his promise.

“The President himself promised today that he will always work closely [with us]. So the hope is that things will always turn out well for us,” said the Vice President of the Boat Captains’ Lobby. In the meeting with boat captains, the President assured that he will increase the fish buying price to 20 rufiyaa as promised. He also mentioned that work is being done to provide daily payments for fish and that digitizing the entire fishing industry is a goal. Furthermore, he noted that bank loans have now started and said he will work to make it more accessible. The President also assured that he will proceed with and complete the work of increasing ice plants as mentioned in the Presidential Address.

Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef has stated that it is important to prioritize creative approaches in addition to technology to overcome climate change. The Vice President said this while speaking at the opening ceremony of the Blue Planet Alliance Fellowship Program held in Honolulu, Hawaii. Speaking as a special guest at the opening ceremony of the Blue Planet Alliance Fellowship Program, Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef said that climate disasters have become a reality for small island nations like the Maldives today. Therefore, he said that we need to think ahead of the current situation to find innovative solutions for the countries most affected by climate change.

The Vice President said that despite the challenges, the Maldives will continue to work to overcome climate change. In this regard, the Vice President mentioned that the Maldives has recently introduced its third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the Energy Roadmap for 2024-2033. This plan was introduced with the goal of using 33 percent renewable energy by 2028. The Vice President noted that this is an important step in President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s vision to reduce dependence on oil.

Highlighting the challenges faced by small countries in innovation, the Vice President said that the Blue Planet Alliance Fellowship Program will allow such countries to share information and find innovative solutions. He said that through this program, policy experts and utility leaders working to overcome the damages from climate change will be able to work together. The Vice President has stated that in addition to technology, the focus should be on innovative policies and ways to find financial assistance for such matters in the work to overcome climate change.

The Ministry of Finance has revealed that more than 1 billion rufiyaa has been spent from the budget on PSIP projects. Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) projects are development projects run at government expense. Every year, billions of rufiyaa are spent on these projects. According to the latest Weekly Fiscal Development Report released by the Ministry of Finance, 1.05 billion rufiyaa has been spent on the Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) as of March 8 this year.

Areas where the largest expenditures were made from the PSIP budget.

• For the transport sector – 315 million rufiyaa
• For coastal protection – 104.3 million rufiyaa
• For land reclamation – 123.1 million rufiyaa
• For harbor development – 96.3 million rufiyaa
• For the bridge project – 86.5 million rufiyaa
• For housing projects – 66 million rufiyaa

The budget approved by the People’s Majlis for this year includes 12.4 billion rufiyaa for PSIP projects. The government has announced that it will focus on profitability in implementing PSIP projects starting this year. As such, this year’s budget includes the establishment of a Project Preparatory Fund to assess the necessity of new projects and to conduct necessary studies to proceed with projects with the help of this fund.

The second phase of modernizing the roads of B. Eydhafushi has been handed over to Road Development Corporation (RDC). The agreement was signed on behalf of the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure by State Minister Hassan Rasheed. And on behalf of Road Development Corporation Limited, Managing Director Brigadier General (Retired) Ali Zuhair signed the agreement.

Under this agreement, 5.3 kilometers of roads will be developed by laying tar. In addition, it includes constructing sidewalks, establishing a drainage system, and installing road markings and signboards. This work has been contracted to RDC for 75.6 million rufiyaa. (Contract value: 75,688,000.78 rufiyaa). Previously, another road development project had been carried out in Eydhafushi.

The first 5-star hotel in the Malé area, Barceló Nasandhura, has opened. This is a 16-story hotel developed by the Spanish Barceló Group with many modern services. The hotel was inaugurated by the Minister of Tourism and Environment, Tariq Ibrahim, at the opening ceremony. In addition to Minister Tariq, several government ministers, ambassadors accredited to the Maldives, and many representatives from the tourism industry were invited and attended the event.

After the opening of Nasandhura, speaking at the ceremony accompanied by traditional bodu beru performances, Tourism Minister Tariq Ibrahim noted that the Nasandhura Hotel is a place with a history that brought revolutionary change to tourism in the Malé area. The Minister expressed hope that this hotel developed by the Barceló Group would maintain that history. The Tourism Minister stated that this hotel would bring revolutionary changes to the tourism sector by providing services that will expand high-end tourism in the Malé area. “The conference facilities here are also very comprehensively developed with many services available. This will pave the way for MICE tourism. And this is an important opportunity to exchange ideas and establish connections,” the Minister said.

In his speech, Minister Tariq highlighted that Maldivian tourism is an industry that has achieved many successes, and the current government is working to build upon these successes to achieve further progress. He added that the main priority in this work is to develop sustainable tourism. “We place great emphasis on areas to increase sustainability. This includes work related to energy, environment, waste management, and water. We hope that the Barceló Group will play a leading role in these areas and promote sustainable tourism,” the Minister said.

Speaking at the event on behalf of the Barceló Group, the hotel’s General Manager, Enrique Reina Cannitrott, said that they are opening this hotel with pride and with the aim of providing good service. He also stated that the group believes that meaningful services will be available because of this establishment.

Barceló Nasandhura, the Spanish hotel chain, is a 136-room hotel. Of these, 95 rooms are sea-view rooms. The property has also further developed 116 high-end serviced apartments, and many modern services will be available here be available here. This place has been opened 10 years after the closure of the former Nasandhura Palace Hotel. The Barceló Group says this is a $100 million investment.