Malé, Maldives – Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam has stated that the Addu land reclamation project will and cannot be stopped via the environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Answering MP of Addu, Maradhoo constituency Ibrahim Shareef during the Parliamentary questioning today, Minister Aslam stated that this project is funded by the Exim Bank of India and that the final approval has been requested for the deal to be sealed. He also added that this approval is guaranteed.
The biggest issue is the reservations by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the EIA of this project. I believe that work must go on now that the project has come this far. No reclamation work is low impact.
Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam, 2022
He added that he does not believe that the project cannot be stopped via EIA, specially because it’s something that has been decided by the council and the people of Addu.
“I am here to work on this.” Minister Aslam said.
