Maldives Opens Bidding of Three Islands for Resort Development


Maldives
PUBLISHED July 11, 2018

The tourism ministry of the Maldives has opened closed bidding of three more uninhabited islands for resort development.


The tourism ministry revealed in an announcement on Monday that Villingili in the northern Raa atoll and Hulhimendhoo and Odegalla in the southern Gaafu Alif atoll are up for lease. The 3.6-hectare Villingili carries an estimated acquisition cost of USD 2.7 million, while the acquisition cost of the 5.2-hectare Hulhimendhoo and the 0.77-hectare Odegalla are expected to be USD 650,00 and USD 96,250 respectively.


The government has recently announced new rules for separately leasing lagoons of resort islands.


According to the regulation, the lagoons can be reclaimed once the separate acquisition cost is paid and a new lease agreement is signed with the tourism ministry. However, the ministry can alter the acquisition fee based on a land survey report that must be submitted after reclamation.


The proposed acquisition fees are lowest for the northernmost and southernmost atolls at US$1.2 million per 10 hectares. In contrast, the cost of lagoons in Malé Atoll is US$6 million. The price ranges between US$3 to US$5 million for the other central atolls.


The tourism law was controversially revised in July 2015 to allow the government to bypass a competitive bidding process and lease listed properties to parties that submit a suitable proposal.


As specified by the latest figures, tourist arrivals to the Maldives for the first five months of the year increased by 10.6 percent to reach 632,729 compared to the 572,318 in the same period of last year.

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