Incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom on Wednesday pledged a specially designed 'employment benefit scheme' for local resort workers worth MVR100 million ahead of the upcoming presidential elections.
Speaking during a ceremony held in capital Male to inaugurate 50 futsal grounds, under the government's Sports Arena project, president Yameen emphasized the need to encourage youth to commit to the tourism industry by introducing a rewards scheme.
"Everything has been decided and finalized. The delay was down to verify a few numbers. This is something that will be included in our manifesto. We're looking at something special for the locals working in tourist resorts. To introduce an employment benefit scheme," the president explained.
President reiterated that the government intends to recognize the contribution of the resort workers to the country's economy by financially empowering them.
"To start off the scheme we will be putting in MVR100 million. This is not a small amount. It in fact is a huge amount. If the resort staff are willing, we are ready to take the amount up to MVR500 million," he added.
He assured that the "voluntary" contribution to the scheme would be affordable while the funds would be available for participants to buy property, invest in shares and cover such capital expenses.
President Yameen's announcement comes in the wake of intense criticism over his failure to honour his electoral pledge to dedicate shares to resort staff which he made in 2013.
