Land To Be Reclaimed For 11 New “Reef Resorts”

By Judith Evans in Malé
May 25, 2008

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Eleven new resorts will be created by reclaiming land on the outskirts of highly populated islands, the government has announced – adding to the 33 resorts already under construction in the Maldives.

The plan was developed following consultations with atoll populations over how tourist development could be brought closer to their communities.

But it has been announced with no assessment of possible environmental impacts, and consultations with locals still ongoing.

The new scheme has met with a lukewarm response from the influential tourism lobby Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), a vocal critic of government tourism policy over the past year.

Population Centres

The new resorts are planned for eleven highly populated islands, with seven already selected – Kaafu atoll Kaashidhoo, Haa Dhaal Nolhivaranfaru, Haa Alif Kelaa, Alif Alif Thoddoo, Faafu Nilandhoo, Faafu Magoodhoo and Laamu atoll Gadhoo.

The winning bidder for each island will also win the right to 100 hectares of coral reef, from which they can reclaim up to 15 hectares for additional resort land.

During consultations, atoll communities said they wanted tourist developments nearer to home, according to Tourism Ministry executive director Mohamed Waheed. But they “don’t want tourist establishments within populated areas,” he added.

So the resorts will be built on inhabited islands, but with a “buffer zone” between tourists and locals.

Resort workers can then “go back to their family at the end of the day,” says Waheed. And Planning Ministry executive director Mohamed Shareef says this will “create jobs for women,” who are currently underrepresented in the industry.

Scepticism

“We do not agree these are the best locations for new resorts,” says Mohamed “Sim” Ibrahim, secretary general of MATI. “We have so many beautiful [existing] islands...They are rushing into this.”

There are almost a thousand uninhabited islands in the Maldives’ atolls, though population centres such as Thoddoo and Kaashidhoo – both of which currently depend on agriculture – are at a distance from other islands.

Sim adds that features of reclaimed land mean the new developments will be “very different” from typical Maldivian resorts.

“The image the market has of the Maldives is of tropical islands in the middle of the ocean. But [the new land] will not be natural – with things like sheet piling and tension walls,” he says.
But Shareef argues that in “two to three years” the land will start to look like a natural island. “If protected by good coral reef it will stabilise quickly.”

New Leases

MATI has been increasingly critical of government resort leasing policy, arguing the emphasis on high “bed rents” and money upfront means companies may struggle to develop the islands they have leased, and are forced to create high-end resorts to recoup costs.

The government leased 35 islands for resort development in 2006. But only two of those are now operational, despite a theoretical 18-month window for construction.

Sim argues the new reef resorts scheme relates to “shortfalls in government budget,” with companies obliged to pay 15 per cent of ten years’ bed rent up front. “The other reason could be that it’s an election year, so they’re trying to keep the people happy,” he contends.

Environment

The technique of land reclamation through dredging has been criticised as damaging to Maldives’ natural environment, one of its major assets.

But just one meeting was held with the Ministry of Environment before committing to the reef resorts.

According to Shareef, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) will be carried out once the lease for each island has been awarded, and plans will be called off if the EIA “finds [the area] is not suitable”.

But local environmental NGO Bluepeace has launched an attack on the plan, saying it “will harm several species, leading to the loss of biodiversity... It has the potential to cause beach erosion leading to economic losses, and will increase the vulnerability of the islands...to [natural] disasters,” according to the group’s blog.

“Since coral reefs and mangroves are the first lines of defense against such disasters,” Bluepeace said, “the destruction of coral reefs through such a plan is in contradiction to the claims that the Maldives is at the forefront of the global fight against climate change.”

Transport

Waheed concedes recruitment problems in resorts – which mostly require employees to live away from home – are related to a lack of transport links.

An existing resort at Haa Dhaal Alidhoo is just “five or ten minutes” from other islands such as Baarah, but a lack of ferry service means locals “might as well work near Malé”.

Shareef also acknowledges the government “needs to promote [transport] much better than what we are doing now – by encouraging the private sector”.

But he says there are no plans for a public transport system, either within or between atolls – and adds land reclamation is planned for islands such as Thoddoo and Kaashidhoo because a ferry service would be difficult to run, given their distance from other islands.

Bids close for Kaashidhoo on 28 May, with the evaluation process then expected to take up to five days. All 11 reef resorts will be leased by next year, according to Shareef.