MVR 6.4 million budgeted for Arabiyya School's new building

Parliamentary budget committee on Friday approved the allocation of MVR 6.4 million in next year's budget for the construction of Arabiyya School building, which is to be built on the premises of old Jamaluddin School.

When the government presented the budget to parliament, Arabiyya building was not included. When it was brought to notice, the finance ministry said that the budget for the school was omitted due to administrative lapses and around MVR 20 million would be allocated for the project.

The committee on Friday approved an allocation of MVR 6.4 million from the next year's budget.

In the last meeting of the budget committee, MDP MP from Dhaandhoo constituency Abdulla Yaugoob had proposed to remove some of the projects from the Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) and redirect the funds to other projects. 

The proposal includes MVR 6.4 million for the construction of the Arabiyya building. A total of MVR 124.4 million has been added to PSIP.

In September, the government handed over the construction of the Arabiyya building to Amin Construction on the land where the old Jamaluddin School is located. The project was awarded to the company on a design and building basis at a cost of MVR 168 million to be completed within 420 days.

The lack in funds for the new building in Arabiyya came to light after PPM MP from Mahibadhoo constituency Ahmed Thoriq posted it on social media. The government was criticised for this.

The committee approved an increase of MVR 160.9 million to the MVR 42.68 billion budget presented to parliament. With this, the committee approved a budget of MVR 42.8 billion for next year.

Apart from PSIP, the next increase in the budget was the MVR 36.05 million for government offices: