EPA made independent as pledged, Shauna says

Environment minister Aiminath Shauna said on Tuesday that although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not yet been made a completely independent body, it is now run on an independent model and the presidential promise in this regard has been fulfilled.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih promised during his first presidential campaign to separate the EPA, which operates under the environment ministry, and transform it into an independent agency. In addition, in 2019, after coming to power, President Solih announced that he would make the EPA independent.

So far, the EPA has not been removed from the ministry, but Shauna says that she feels the promise has been fulfilled.

Environment minister Shauna was summoned to the parliament by Ungoofaaru MP Ibrahim Waheed for questioning over the failure to fulfil the promise.

Waheed's question is:

In a very lengthy reply to the question, the minister read the government's manifesto and what it had planned to do in 100 days include a promise to strive to empower and run the EPA independently.

"The government has made several efforts to make the EPA an independent institution. We are continuously working on it," Shauna said.

Shauna also mentioned some of the things that have been done so far in the process.

"[So] the government's promise to fulfil it in the first 100 days has been fulfilled," Shauna said.

In Shauna's speech, she reiterated that the government had promised to "make the EPA a free and empowered institution". Then, she went on to explain how environmental regulatory agencies operate in three developed countries.

Citing the example of how environmental regulatory agencies operate in the US, UK and Singapore, Shauna said that in all three countries such agencies do not function as entities independent of the government. The agencies were created in accordance with the policies of a government and run by the president or the environment ministry, she said.

"This is being done because the country's development and environment are not things that can be separated," Shauna said.

"It has to be recognised that regulating the environment by a fully independent future commission, without any say by the executive, is not ideal for a developing country like the Maldives."

Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, who was presiding over the sitting, stopped Shauna and allowed MP Waheed to ask a follow-up question.

"Instead of talking very long around it, please state directly whether the EPA will be made an independent agency or not," said Waheed, who supports Nasheed among the two factions that have emerged within MDP.

"Secondly, did the president not know that this was the case when he made the promise?"

Replying to the question, Shauna said that instead of establishing an independent commission, what is more  important is providing the facilities and technical assistance to the agency. This, Shauna said, was one of the most important things that was needed to empower it and run it independently.

"When we came to power, the EPA was getting an average budget of about MVR 9.7 million per year. This government has increased the EPA’s budget to MVR 15.3 million," Shauna said.

Noting that EPA’s decisions are also being made on scientific grounds, Shauna said the agency will be able to get the necessary vessels to conduct research this year and appoint the crew to operate it.

Although Shauna said the EPA was an independent entity, the minister has the power to overturn its decisions on appeal.

One such appeal was the EPA's decision in November to impose a fine of MVR 69.4 million on Afcons, which is building the Thilamale bridge, for the damage caused by its platform that drifted on to Villimale reef. A decision is yet to be taken on the matter.