All airports operated by RACL transferred to MACL

All airports operated by the Regional Airports Company Ltd (RACL) have been transferred to the Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL).

The government announced its decision to transfer RACL under MACL and abolish it on September 1 last year. However, RACL's services have not been fully transferred to MACL for a year now.

When contacted by Sun, MACL Managing Director Ibrahim Shareef Mohamed said that RACL's operations are being transferred to MACL and the nine airports operated by RACL have already been transferred to the company.

MACL's spokesperson noted though, that not all of RACL's services have yet been fully transferred under the MACL. There is still a lot of work to be done to transfer all the services, the spokesperson said.

When asked by Sun, RACL said the same, that most of the services provided by the company have now been transferred to MACL.

While RACL is getting transferred under MACL, the company's Managing Director Ahmed Mubeen resigned last July. RACL Deputy Managing Director Ibrahim Shahid was transferred to the Male' Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC) last month.

Notably, the Cabinet decided in September last year to transfer the Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation (FDC) under the Housing Development Corporation (HDC). FDC Managing Director Hamdhaan Shakeel could not be reached for comment as he did not answer the phone.

The government's economic policy is to transfer some government companies that have been a burden to the state to larger, efficient ones. It was a policy of cutting costs to combat the economic crisis.

However, no cost-cutting policies have been implemented yet.

Foreign agencies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have called for healthcare and subsidy reform. This year's budget included many reforms including to the pension scheme. At the time, government officials had said they could not get out of this economic abyss without cutting spending. But, those measures are not yet implemented.

Maldives spends a lot on subsidies, including electricity and food staples. However, foreign financial institutions have repeatedly advised the government to reform to subsidize only those who need it most.

Instead, the government actually withdrew the decision.