Fenaka in state of despair, new chief says

The Fenaka Corporation, which provides water, sewerage and electricity services to many islands in the country, is in a state of operational disruption, the Managing Director of the company, Muaz Mohammed Rasheed, said on Wednesday.

During the government of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Fenaka's debt increased and the number of employees increased significantly. The company had a number of employees that did not meet its operations and a large number of contract employees, whose contracts had expired.

Fenaka Managing Director Muaz told a press conference on Wednesday that there are many reasons why the company's situation has deteriorated.

“The company's current situation is at a level that can disrupt our operations,” Muaz said.

He said he was most concerned about the company's debt.

He noted that Fenaka's debt includes;

Noting that the company had 2,700 employees at the end of 2018, the company had 8,100 employees when he took office.

"[The company] used to spend an average of MVR 20 million a month on salaries. Now it has to spend an average of MVR 74 million a month”, Muaz explained.

He said MVR 79 million had to be spent on paying monthly salaries in the last month.

This is one of the reasons why the contract employees were forced to leave without renewing their contracts, he said.

"The reasons for the compulsion are, one is that the projects are not being implemented properly. The other is that we are forced to reduce the payroll. Without reducing the payroll, we cannot continue this company," he said.

Muaz said the payroll reduction measures have saved MVR 5 million so far.

904 contract employees have been released without renewing their contracts.