President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has announced that the government has paid USD 28.8 million for 1,040 outstanding bills carried over from the previous government for projects completed through private companies.
He made the announcement at a mega rally organised by the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) on Friday night, the “Dhivehinge Raajje” rally.
At the event, President Muizzu shared the government's efforts to continue infrastructure development projects without interruption and to put the country’s economy back on track. He noted that a significant number of projects implemented by the previous government through private companies had a large backlog of unpaid bills when the current administration took office. While efforts to clear these bills began on 6 November, USD 28.8 million has been paid for 1,040 outstanding bills since then, he said.
“We will not stop until all bills have been cleared. We are working to revive the economy without resorting to printing money,” he said.
The President reiterated his commitment to delivering equal development across all islands in line with the people’s wishes. He revealed that 1,875 infrastructural development projects are currently underway across the country, of which 1,356 were initiated since the government took office. He emphasised that the aim is to strengthen both the private and public sectors and increase economic diversification.
The government has awarded 206 projects across nine development areas to empower private companies, with assurance that bills would be paid promptly.
During the event, the President said that the government will not discriminate between islands, and will carry out development and establish services on all islands equally. The installation of ATMs is one such important task, he said.
The government has successfully installed ATMs on all inhabited islands of the Maldives under its initiative to expand ATM services nationwide. Under the "ATMs Across the Country" project, the government installed 105 self-service ATMs on inhabited islands as of end of last month. The work was completed by the Bank of Maldives (BML) within nine months.
As part of efforts to further expand the service, the installation of US Dollar ATMs in the atolls is also ongoing. Sharing details on this, the President said by March next year, 70 islands will have US Dollar ATMs, including islands with tourist bed capacity of over 150, capital islands, urban centres as well as islands with populations exceeding 2,000.
The government aims to install US Dollar ATMs in seven urban centres, cities and islands where local tourism is prominent under the government’s development policy.