The Road Development Corporation (RDC) has hired two consultants at high salaries at a time when the company is taking measures to cut costs.

RDC, a 100 percent government-owned company, decided to cut costs and sent a memo to employees on July 4. This came after the government announced cost-cutting measures due to the country's economic and financial situation.

However, RDC Deputy Managing Director Mohamed Nabeeh sent a second memo to the employees on that same day.

The memo requested employees to cooperate with the work of two newly hired consultants to streamline the company's human resources and repair and maintenance activities.

Major (retd) Ali Najeeb was hired as the repair and maintenance consultant while Ghufran Abdul Ghani was hired as an HR consultant.

When questioned by Adhadhu, DMD Nabeeh said the HR consultant was hired to review the existing policies and provide consultancy to shape the company in line with the strategic plan.

He added that a repair and maintenance consultant was hired as part of the effort to expand activities such as vehicle maintenance. He claimed that a decision was made in January to hire two consultants.

"A consultant [will be paid] around MVR 35,000," Nabeeh said when asked about the salary. They were hired for at least a one-year period. RDC is expected to pay MVR 840,000 for their salaries over this period.

Meanwhile, there have been reports that RDC is laying-off some employees in order to cut costs. However, Nabeeh insisted that the dismissals were in accordance with the company’s HR policies.