Committee completes resort lease extension review in a day

The debate on the government's amendment to the Tourism Act to extend the lease term of resorts started on Thursday and the committee passed the bill on the same day.

On Tuesday, the PNC MP from Dhangethi constituency proposed an amendment to the Tourism Act to reduce the repayment period from two years to six months for the extension of the lease period of resorts. After the debate on the bill began in the Parliament, a vote was taken to accept the bill.

Parliament usually meets from Monday to Wednesday. The session on Thursday was held most likely to pass this bill. The agenda of Thursday's session was only to continue the work on this bill.

With 75 votes in favour, the Speaker referred the bill to a committee of the whole parliament. After concluding Thursday's session, Abdul Raheem began the committee meeting of the whole parliament.

A bill is usually referred to the plenary session for the purpose of expediting its work.

The whole Parliament committee meeting, which lasted about 15 minutes, moved that the bill be passed as sent by the government without further debate. The reason given was:

The MDP expressed concern at the committee meeting that the bill is being worked on in a hurry.

"We’re seeing the whole bill is being completed in a rush. Is this the best way at the moment? What is the purpose? What are we achieving? What will be the benefits of this for the country and the future?" MDP PG leader Ibrahim Nazil questioned.

Replying to Nazil's questions, Abdul Raheem said the committee work on the bill has already started, and as Speaker of Parliament, he did not believe that he should answer the question asked by Nazil.

Nazil's remarks were responded to by Mahchangolhi North PNC Member Ibrahim Mohamed who said it was a bill that was required to be passed as soon as possible. He said this was something that needed to be done "immediately" to bring about a positive change in the tourism industry.

"Those who are concerned about the speed of the bill are those who have worked against tourism investment in Maldives in the past. Therefore, I want the bill to be passed as soon as possible," he said.

None of the few members who requested an opportunity to speak in the committee mentioned anything in the bill. Nor did anybody propose any further amendments.

The bill passed the committee with the support of 76 members, along with the MDP members.