The world economy is in a crisis. Economists says this cant be fixed over night. At the very same time we, the Maldivians are facing very tough days ahead when it comes to our own economy. Today in the opening ceremony of the People's Majils, President Mr. Nasheedh directly or indirectly warned of difficult days that we may face.
Last Year we saw the oil prices reached record high levels. This is the sources of energy that we use in Maldives. Also prices are expected to raise in future. Already we have electricity shortages in the capital Male', with at least two blackout in these two days. Tourism is declining in Maldives as the number of tourists visiting falls. The World Tourism Organization predicts a slow down in the tourism of this region if not a decline.
When All these things comes to my mind, I just wonder if we should keep quiet to see the wave comes and washe away our future. I think we need to do something. Maybe a long term actions will pay off. As the oil prices are expected to raises and tourism slow down and our economy in a slump, we need to economize. And we need to spend on future and long term investment.
One such action will be to introduce solar panel electricity to the households making us a bit more self reliant using the available SUNLIGHT. This will be a way to save energy as well as a means of environmental friendly life.
How about starting this from Raa atoll Dhuvaafaru which was very recently inhabited. Maybe the government can divert the MRF50,000 promised to be given to household for this purpose.(I said about diverting that money due to the economic status that we are in now) This could be the beginning.If not the government can buy and sell on installment basis without any interest to all house holds there. It' be an investment that is environment friendly, productive and economically sensible.
I'd love to see the government launch a project targeting to fix a solar panel in every household of Maldives by the year 2013. In this way we could fix the energy tap in a more reliable manner.
www.heliotropics.com
http://www.unwto.org/media/news/en/press_det.php?id=3481&idioma=E