Maldives - Emergency Support for Critical Services Project

Overview & Synopsis

Maldives Emergency Support for Critical Services Project for Maldives has the development objective to support the continuity of essential services and logistics by maintaining critical fuel supplies in response to external shocks and declining tourism revenues. Component: Critical Goods Imports (Fuel) supports the importation and timely reimbursement of eligible petroleum products required to operate essential utilities and logistics, specifically electricity generation, water desalination, and inter-island transport, through a simple, time-bound mechanism that disburses against verified documentation of fuel import payments; uses an established positive list of eligible products including marine gas oil and motor gasoline; leverages existing supply contracts and operational capacity of the State Trading Organization for procurement, payment, and nationwide distribution; applies World Bank fiduciary, procurement, and integrity controls including supplier acceptance of Anti-Corruption Guidelines and sanctions framework, price benchmarking to international indices, and independent verification as needed; and is implemented by the Project Management Unit within the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises under standard Investment Project Financing procedures, including the possibility of retroactive financing and direct payments, to rapidly alleviate foreign exchange constraints and prevent service disruptions during the crisis period while remaining aligned with the country’s medium-term transition to renewable energy.