Maldives Government has met with development partners to raise funds for regional waste management project of the government.
The meeting started this morning at STELCO and is attended by relevant state authorities and by financial institutions such as ADB and the World Bank.
Speaking at the meeting, Finance Minister Ahmed Munawwar said that since the waste management problem of Maldives is related to the whole economy of Maldives, it is already time to solve it and they cannot waste any more time on discussing.
He said that the government needs financial and technical assistance to solve the problem. He said that the government allocated around 8 million dollars in next year’s budget for waste management since it is a huge concern. Munawwar said that one of the goal of such a meeting is to identify the ways and areas the donors can help.
Environment Minister Thoriq Ibrahim said that due to the untreated waste accumulated over the years, the tourism and the fisheries sector is being effected badly. He said that hence there is a lot to be done to solve this problem. “ We have been talking about this problem for more than 20 years. However little has been done” said the Minister.
Thoriq said that the government has established a waste management center in R.Vandhoo with assistance from the World Bank and he also talked about what the government has done in the last three years to manage waste.
Government meets with development partners to raise funds for regional waste management project
