No Promised Natural Reefs Anywhere A Cause of Grief: Nasheed

Former President Mohamed Nasheed, the Speaker of the Majlis and the leader of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party has expressed his "grief" that no so-called "Jazeera Reef", i.e. a natural reef, has yet been developed in any of the islands, as had been promised during the 2018 presidential campaign.

Speaker Nasheed responded to a question posed by Dhiyares during the press conference held today.

The 2018 campaign vows, documented in the MDP's "Jazeera Raajje Manifesto", claimed that the use of concrete and rock would be abandoned in favour of "natural reef", or "Jazeera Reefs".

In September, the presidential spokesperson Mabrouq Azeez had said that the current administration were developing harbours and piers in a similar fashion as harbours had been before. Mohamed Aslam, the Minister of Planning, had said that experiments would have to be conducted prior to developing "natural harbours", and he would look into whether any such projects had been initiated.

Speaker Nasheed said that an Australian professor had discovered a technique for developing natural harbours. He said that corals reproduce during a certain season, and that the professor had collected many corals and cultivated larvae which were then released into the reef; the reef then experienced significant growth, claimed the former president.

Speaker Nasheed was optimistic about the "Jazeera Reef", and he said that the Solih administration was currently busy with coral rehabilitation; a long and difficult process.