MVR 22 mln utilized from Green Fund for 14 projects

MVR 22 million has been spent for 14 projects under the 'Green Fund' established from the revenue generated by Green Tax charged by the government.

Finance Ministry's statistics reveals that the largest amount of funds were utilized for the Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Project implemented jointly by OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Maldivian government. MVR 7.4 million was spent from the Green Fund on the project.

The "Green Fund" was established earlier this January to solve environment-related issues in the Maldives. By the end of May, MVR 286 million was collected for the fund. During the month of May, MVR 77.6 million was deposited into the fund, out of which MVR 70 million was received as Green Tax from local resorts. While MVR 1.6 million was generated from hotels, and MVR 3.1 million from local guest houses, MVR 2.3 million was generated from luxury boats and safaris.

The government introduced the Green Fund during October 2016 to gather funds to tackle environmental issues in the Maldives. US$ 3 is charged as Green Tax per tourist at local guest houses and US$ 6 is charged per head at other tourism service providers.

The 14 projects for which funds from the Green Fund have been utilized for includes the development of sewerage systems, waste management projects and water supply projects in different islands across the Maldives.