Sunday, November 03, 2013

That Sinking Feeling

Do you happen to recall all the flap about rising seas and the imminent (as in "tomorrow") disappearance of the Maldives UNLESS all western nations tax CO2 and send the money to president Mohammad Nasheed?

Well it now seems that at least a few well heeled investors have decided that it is a good place to build luxury resort hotels.

At least 30 Hotels to built in "Sinking Maldives"

It turns out that Nasheed has figured out an Al Gore like environment scam, a cash generating machine of the first order.

  • A native population of about 394 thousand and a dependency rate of bout 50% 
  • An available land mass of 298 sq km.
  • Exports about $280 million and imports about $1.4 billion with a foreign debt of $890 million.
  • Now hosting more than a million tourists per year (presumably due to all the flap doodle over "sinking").
  • Nasheed brags that the Maldives can handle many more.
  • There are 200 populated islands in the atoll plus 80 islands that are tourist resorts.
  • There are currently 9 airports, 7 with paved landing strips.
  • There are 88 km of road (no data on paved vs unpaved), crushed coral seems to be the material of choice.
  • There is ONE marine port (Male)
  • Native water consumption is 18,444 liters per year per person for all uses. 
  • Native fresh water aquifers are depleting and being contaminated.
  • There is not enough water to support the current native population let alone an expanded demand from development and tourism.
  • 100% of all materials for development are imported.
  • Power consumption is up proportionally with the surging demands to support the tourist services and the construction taking place.
  • The only source of electrical power is petroleum fueled generators.
  • Non existent environmental protection standards.
  • Still demanding payola from UN for the presumed environmental sins of the developed world.
  • Additional - Forced labour and human trafficking:
 Maldives is a destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking and a source country for Maldivian children subjected to human trafficking within the country; Bangladeshi and Indian migrants working both legally and illegally in the construction and service sectors face conditions of forced labor, including fraudulent recruitment, confiscation of identity and travel documents, nonpayment of wages, and debt bondage; a small number of women from Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, China, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Eastern Europe, and former Soviet states are trafficked to Maldives for sexual exploitation; some Maldivian children are transported to the capital for forced domestic service, where they may also be sexually abused.
(from the CIA World Factbook)
 But Nasheed will get 30 new resort hotels and billions in international aid.

OMMAG
Mohamed Nasheed
Mohamed Nasheed
Mohamed Nasheed
Mohamed Nasheed

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