Qatar concerned about how their aid was used: President Nasheed

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

President Mohamed Nasheed has said the Emir of Qatar was concerned about how the Maldivian Government has utilised aid given by Qatar. The President was speaking at a news conference at the President’s Office this afternoon after returning from an official visit to Italy. The President also visited Qatar and met the Emir and Crown Prince of Qatar on his way back home. President Nasheed said he has to apologise from the Emir of Qatar when the Emir mentioned to the President they are concerned about how the aid given by the Government of Qatar was utilised as there was no proper information about the utilisation of the aid referring to aid given to the former Government. According to the President there is concern by the Emir the aid was not utilised properly and because of this President Nasheed made an apology to the Emir and requested the Emir to start from a new beginning with the new Government elected by the people. The President said he had been assured by the Emir that Qatar will look into this matter and would provide further aid to the Maldives.
 
President Nasheed further said the the Foreign Minister of Qatar has requested Foreign Minister Dr. Shaheed to look into the past aid. Nasheed said there are many wrong doings and because of that the country is subjected to losses and difficulties.
 
Speaking about the MRf 300 milllion which many sources have alleggedd the Government has taken from the reserve, the President said that money is being spent for the unpaid bills of various projects started by the previous Government, and the Government has taken less than MRf 200 million during the second month and will further reduce the amount to MRf 170 in the third month. The President assured the Government will balance the expenditure with revenue in six months, Government’s PSIP programmes will be corporatised and there will be a surplus at the end of the year.
 
President Nasheed also said the Government is ahead of their schedule of delivering promises. Regarding the difficulties to buy US dollars, President Nasheed said this is because there is a great deal of Rufiyaa in circulation as a large number of Rufiyaa is reported to have been printed, and some people are keeping dollars. But the President warned when the rate of US dollars is reduced to MRf 10, those who keep dollars will not get a good price for their dollars.
 
President Nasheed also mentioned the Government is far ahead of their pledge of providing housing for 25,000 people. There are interested parties from China and India who want to build 10,000 flats, and there is an offer from Italy to build 1000 flats. Therefore the Government will choose the best party to build these flats. He also spoke about the MRf 2000 pension given to over 65 years and health insurance scheme as well as the new education programmes which are among the pledges made by MDP during the presidential election campaign. President said, his Government is fulfilling the promises, the Government is on target and will deliver the promises.

Reader Comments

Post a comment

 characters available



The opinions expressed here are those of the individual authors and commenters and do not necessarily represent the views of Miadhu News Daily. We do not take responsibility for the opinions, facts, or claims presented by individual authors or commenters, and reserve the right to moderate or delete inappropriate comments.

Miadhu Opinion Poll
  • Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.