Author: Mohamed Reehaan

Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), the country’s central bank has confirmed it will be open to render services on Saturday ahead of the Eid-Al-Fitr holidays in the coming week. According to the central bank, the authority will be open on Saturday instead of the coming week’s Wednesday. Furthermore, the bank noted that its services of accepting deposits and releasing funds would be available between 09:30hrs and 12:00hrs. Moreover, the bank confirmed that its services on Saturday will follow as per current proceedings and will be provided on an appointment basis.

State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) Managing Director Ahmed Shareef instructs public to inform the corporation about damaged power distribution boxes in Male’ City and across the Greater Male’ Region. Shareef had made the statement in a bid to improve direct communication between the local consumers and the utility provider. Moreover, several of the distribution boxes installed in the capital city are currently damaged to excessive degrees requiring immediate repairs and maintenance. Furthermore, the front man of the utility provider to the country’s capital expressed delight while responding to a local consumer who had earlier tweeted a picture of a damaged…

Maldives government has revoked all leniencies provided under state initiated health insurance scheme, Aasandha, during Covid-19 pandemic outbreak. The leniencies were brought into effect amid the pandemic outbreak to facilitate ease of access and affordability for consumers to quell public plight over financial detriments amid the economic brunt. Meanwhile, Aasandha has confirmed that all services have reverted to default conditions prior to the pandemic-led easements. With the leniencies reverting back to its original functionality, online services will now become facilitated exclusively through medical institutions that use “Vinavi” portal. Aasandha had further notified that all online requests, or additional requests on…

Out of the 21 uninhabited islands listed by the state for tourist resort development in last October, seven have been awarded to winning developers. The Ministry of Tourism on Wednesday, 20th April announced the lease acquisition cost and training fund cost of the islands. From the seven islands awarded to developers, the highest acquisition cost is reported at USD3.6 million while the lowest acquisition cost is reported at USD390,000. Meanwhile, the ministry has provided a 60-day window for the developers to pay 50% of the acquisition and training fund cost as well as conduct the environmental impact analysis. Furthermore, the…

Ooredoo Maldives announces its partnership with American multimedia instant messaging application Snapchat in a bid to promote and create awareness towards augmented reality (AR) among local consumers. According to the innovative telecommunication provider, under the partnership, Ooredoo will be introducing Maldives-centric lenses on the social media platform which popular for instant photo and video sharing. In addition to this, as part of promoting the island nation, special Maldives-specific geo-filters will be introduced in Snapchat as well. Both the new lens and geo-filter were officially launched by Ooredoo Maldives in line with the “Visit Maldives Now” campaign, as well as in…

It was reported on Wednesday, 20th April, that Russia has formally sought continuation of its flight operations to the Maldives amid growing geopolitical tensions. Russian government’s request has come at a time when several nations have been imposing travel restrictions and similar sanctions on the country as it continues to wage war against neighboring Ukraine. It has been revealed that the Russian government via a letter to the Maldives Civil Aviation Authority requested for continued services from Velana International Airport (VIA) to its airlines; namely its flagship carrier, Aeroflot. Meanwhile, the airline currently operates a total of eight flights to…

Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, 20th April 2022, announced the bid submission window for interested developers for a housing development project in Shaviyani atoll Komandoo. According to the ministry, the project includes development of 30 housing units in the local residential island. The ministry opened bid submission window on Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s request. Bid opening has been scheduled for 23rd May 2022 at 11:00hrs at the Event Hall of National Tender. Moreover, the fixed bid security of the project is MVR150,000 according to the ministry and the bid security submission period is 148 days from the…

State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) has announced and awarded the winners of the company sponsored Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage trips. A total of four winners; two winning Hajj pilgrimage and two other winning Umrah pilgrimage were announced during Monday evening’s religious program organized by the utility provider focused on its employees. Furthermore, STELCO announced that the eligible candidates with a chance to win the company sponsored pilgrimage trips must have been employed at the utility provider for a continuous period of 15 years or more for Hajj pilgrimage and 5 years or more for Umrah pilgrimage. The religious program during…

Tourist arrivals to the Maldives have reached a total of 498,235 as of 13th April 2022, reflecting an annual increment of 45.3%. Meanwhile, the tourist arrivals to the Maldives has increased in comparison with both 2021 and 2020, where it stood at 342,840 and 382,762 respectively. However, tourist arrivals to the island nation has still not breached the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. The annual tourist arrival to the country in 2019 stood at 551,527, due wot which the annual arrival in 2022 was still below 9.7% compared to pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, from 01st to 13th April, the total number of…

The vacant position of Managing Director of Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has been officially filled with new managerial appointment. According to MACL, Mr. Majoob Shujau has been officially appointed as the new Managing Director of the company after the position had been vacant since 10th November 2021. The position became empty in last November after the previous Managing Director Mr. Gordon Andrew Stuart was terminated following underperformance. Following Stuart’s departure, the company was managed under the vision and tutelage of its Deputy Chief Officer Mr. Ibrahim Thoha who has since been promoted as MACL’s Deputy Managing Director. Furthermore, the…