Minister of Finance Dr. Mohamed Shafeeq announces that the development initiatives of the Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) are under review.
At Monday's budget committee meeting in the parliament, Shafeeq said that the ministry is currently reviewing the most important PSIP initiatives out of the existing 1,780 projects and the 300 additional planned projects.
"The most crucial projects out of those will be executed depending on the circumstances. The ones that are currently ongoing are all important ones in that regard, but given the current conditions we are required to act diligently in reviewing which ones deserve our strongest consideration and order them according to their priority status in a timeline," the minister said.
The minister further highlighted that among the projects currently under the PSIP timeline, those that do not require immediate attention or execution may get rescheduled for later.
"We are conducting meetings with all relevant stakeholders to find all possibilities for expense cuts, since that is our primary target. If we do not get the projected revenue, the only viable option for us is to cut costs," he added.
The state budget for 2024 has an allocation of MVR 8.6 billion for PSIP; owing to the current government's focus on airport and transportation development. Under the PSIP allocation, MVR 3.2 billion has been designated for airport development projects with another MVR 1.6 billion for land reclamation projects.
Shafeeq also noted that the Middle-East is the new government's primary option in seeking foreign aid. He further noted that the projects would be halted if the state does not generate the projected revenues.
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