Regional Development Programme
Region: Indian Ocean
Country: Maldives
Date: 2000 ongoing
Funded By: Government of Maldives, Ministry of Planning and National Development
The objectives are to redistribute population, employment and improved living standards throughout the 500 miles of Atolls which form the Maldives. At present, development and administration is concentrated in Male and migration from the outer islands is causing problems. Two new administrative centres are being established, one in the north, the other in the south. MEP is managing the establishment of regional development and management offices, staff training and institutional development and the infrastructure and planning for urban centres, including land use planning, roads, ground water, rain water, sanitation, solid waste systems. The project is also developing the human dimension with training for admin-istration, public awareness and business development workshops. Project management will include planning and co-ordination of a large national and international team, procurement and supervision, land use planning and training, environmental monitoring, assessment of marine ecology in 13 focus islands, a sea transport study including collection and analysis of data on operations of all sea transport vessels and information systems analysis for GIS and database management.