The Ministry of Environment has corrected media reports regarding amendments made to rules around sand mining and dredging, stating that the regulation had first been changed in 2014 to allow sand mining and dredging 200 meters from Marine Protected Areas.
The Ministry of Environment has corrected media reports regarding amendments made to rules around sand mining and dredging, stating that the regulation had first been changed in 2014 to allow sand mining and dredging 200 meters from Marine Protected Areas (MPA).
In a statement released by the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy regarding misleading press reports on amendments to the Regulation Governing Reclamation and Dredging of Islands and Lagoons of Maldives, the government has stated that new amendments to the regulation were made with regards to "environmentally sensitive areas."
Under the new changes, the whole cabinet no longer has to approve dredging and sand mining from 200 meters of environmentally sensitive areas, with permission from a cabinet committee now sufficient to allow such action.
The ministry has also stated that nothing else was changed within the regulations under new amendments.
Further, the ministry also revealed that the amendment had been brought about as an administrative arrangement as the Economic Council formed by President Dr Mohamed Muizzu was created to make such important decisions as opposed to the matter being referred to the whole of cabinet.
The Regulation Governing Reclamation and Dredging of Islands and Lagoons of Maldives was changed on February 9, 2014, to allow sand extraction and dredging 200 meters from protected areas for the purpose of government-run development projects as approved by the cabinet.
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