Nasheed calls for halt to infrastructure projects for 5 years
He said maintaining financial discipline was essential to improving the country’s economic standing and that citizens were aware of the implications.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed has called for a temporary halt to major infrastructure projects in the Maldives for the next four to five years.
In a post on X on Friday, Nasheed said the slogan for the next elections should be “Wait a minute,” adding that the next president should prioritise slowing down development works.
“Concrete is not development; it is often debt,” Nasheed wrote, arguing that increasing budget surpluses and reserves while reducing debt would lead to greater national prosperity.
He said maintaining financial discipline was essential to improving the country’s economic standing and that citizens were aware of the implications of ongoing large-scale projects.
On Thursday, Nasheed had also criticised the government’s infrastructure programme, including plans to build four airports in Shaviyani Atoll. He said the proposed airports were located too close to each other, making the projects economically and financially unsustainable.
