Skip to main content

1000 islands, 1000 opportunities



Often we are bombarded with messages stating, we do not have any natural resources and therefore we are poor. Just because we do not have oil does not mean we lack natural resources to move our economy forward. When you think of it, the 1000 more islands are the natural resources we have. We are using less than 150 islands for industrial purposes. The rest is untouched and unused.

Tourism has shown that each island can be turned into multi million dollar cash generating investments. However, the problem is policy makers seems unable to think beyond tourism. Policies in assigning islands for industrial purposes need to be reviewed and prevent over concentration on tourism in a single atoll.

Within the atolls (including Kaafu and other atolls that has high concentration of tourism), islands can be leased to fisheries, agriculture, education, health, and many more other industries and make them easily accessible for people to go for jobs or to acquire goods and services. Building the best hospital, best college, best school, best hotel, best shoping complex, just in one tiny over crowded island does not make any sense. If the reason is concentration of all skilled labour in Male’, at least a nearby islands with boarding facilities could have been chosen to setup the best of the best to ease up the situation.
Just because all the islands that are nearby Male’, are resorts, there is no reason to cram everything into this tiny place. Resorts can be taken and used for other purposes just like k. villingli has been used. Even better option is to spread such services across the country in selected uninhabited islands and provide easy accessibility.

Comments

We do have natural resources....they are few however. We could have a better socio-economic situation if we optimize the use of the resources that we do have; land, women and youth.

Of the 1% of our country that is land, less than half is used at all for the good of the people!!!!
Unknown said…
great ideas... only the government doesn't realize it... and people voices.. this kind of voice dosen't come up in those rallies... cheers!
Muna Mohamed said…
dear medical investigator. thanks for your coment. a friend of mine said cliton was so surprised that we have so much untapped resources (islands). for a visionary its not hard to see the potential. but...
Anonymous said…
if you look at the published reports ... especially national master plans ... you would see that these things are all in there ...
it doesnt take a rocket scientist (or an ex-world leader) to know simple economics ... maximization of available resources ...
just dunno why its fails to materialize after the it reaches a certain point ...
good luck to us ...
Muna Mohamed said…
subcorpus. since you mentionted plans..agreed. collect all the plans that have been published and see each page and see whether acativities were implimented.. you will see another 1000 long list broken promises
Anonymous said…
The blind pple cant see the resources we do have. We are blind coz we are borne to be blind. The schools don’t teach subjects like entrepreneurship, our minds are corrupted. These things are planned. Last few decades we always hear (waseesaithah madhu) only. Our country has many but unfortunately the politicians cant realize it or they don’t want be realize.
Lucas M said…
Hello maate great blog

Popular posts from this blog

Divide and rule!

We are an unfortunate lot. I mean we are already divided geographically to insignificant proportions making it unsustainable, unfeasible and not viable to do and sustain anything valuable. (On top of that some bigger islands want to stay divided administratively to get two or more councils!!). In this state the perks available to any ruler is ignorance of his subjects, them being busy with their quarrels, arguments, and differences to notice the sorry state they are in. This makes The Maldives a heaven to get power, to stay in power and sustain that power without doing much, for centuries to come! Let me get to the point. According to last census, 75 islands have a population of less than 500, 58 islands have a pop. between 500-1000, and only 65 islands have more than 1000 pop. If I have my way, an inhabited island should have at least 1000 pop (which is not much). If it does not fit the criteria, the people should be offered the option to move to bigger islands. Any i

Can we, women of this country, have some space to grow food and offer food security to our family?

Illustration by Aishath Rishtha   Translation: “When the Last Tree Is Cut Down, the Last Fish Eaten, and the Last Stream Poisoned, You Will Realize That You Cannot Eat Money”  The article was published in  Maldives Economic Review  in its March 2020 Issue 3.  To read the full article click link at end  2014: Think about it? In 2014, I started writing a book using census and all available economic data on every atoll including data on how many uninhabited islands each atoll has. I thought that showing demographic, geographic and economic data will make people realize we need to do something about abandoning such rich resources for a congested living in Male’…. I shared the first draft with friends and mother thinking everyone will be very pleased. They weren’t happy. Major problem seemed to be - “just throwing data on people is not enough… we need to talk about some solutions. Take food security for one…..” Outline of the article 2014: Think about it? 2016: Write a

Towards a more equitable budget

The article was published in Maldives Economic Review in its December 2019 Issue 2.  To read the full article click link at end  World Bank in an introductory economic report on Maldives in 1979 states that “Male dominates the political, economic, and social structure of the country. It is here that a small national elite presides over the archipelago's affairs and takes decisions that are crucial to the well-being of the atolls. Not surprisingly, a disproportionate share of government expenditures directly benefits Male and ensures its residents a standard of living that is substantially higher than in the atolls The other islands now rely upon it as their main trading post and contact point with the rest of the world” Fifty years later Male’ has become one of the most congested cities in the world with a population density of 65,201 per km according to National Bureau of Statistics of Maldives. Top reasons for migration as per census is; as a return migrant, educati