Male’, Maldives – The national strategic plan to be formulated under the Water and Sewerage Act of Maldives has been inaugurated today.
The plan was inaugurated by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan, in a special ceremony held at the Ministry.
The Ministry revealed that the main purpose of formulating this five year strategic plan is to develop the area, and improve the services provided, in accordance to the set policies. It was further revealed by the Ministry that the main policies within this strategic plan focus on;
- Ensuring safe water and sewerage services for all
- Development of environmentally friendly, economically viable water and sewerage systems
- Human Resource development from the industry
- Increasing awareness about the industry
- Conservation of water, and
- Building an adaptable society to incidents such as flooding.
Adding on, the Ministry said that this plan, which is to be implemented with collaboration of all stakeholders, would be useful for all who are working to sustainably develop and accomplish the set targets for the industry.
The Water and Sewerage Act (Act 8/2020) was passed by the Parliament, during the 21st sitting, held on 20th July, 2020 and was ratified by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on 5th August, 2020.
The Water and Sewerage Act was formulated to ensure the delivery of safe and clean water to all persons in the country and stipulates the guidelines and procedures for the protection of water resources, and to enable the establishment of a suitable water sewerage network for all inhabited islands, along with other relevant guidelines.
Upon coming into effect, the Act also requires each island council to levy charges on water and sewerage services.
Further, it also mandates the use of modern technology to seek the most environment friendly means of providing water and sewerage services, stipulating that renewable energy must be utilised in the production of water. The Act prohibits levying of additional charges for services beyond those indexed within its guidelines.
