State has earned a reported total of MVR154 million (USD10 million) from the sale of four local islands for resort development.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, a total of four companies have already paid the land acquisition cost for these islands for tourist resort development, which had been collected by Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).
Earlier, Maldives government put up bids for 18 uninhabited local islands for resort development, which was announced during the Dubai Expo held last October, 2021.
Ministry of Tourism evaluated all the bids and awards the islands to companies that won the bids; for five islands earlier in April 2022.
However, only four of the winning companies had paid the proper acquisition cost as per the terms set out by the Ministry.
It was reported that the collective total of land acquisition costs for the four islands amount to USD10,022,275 which translates to MVR154,543,480.50.
The ministry had also announced the winning companies, which include;
- Naid Trading Private Limited
- Akiri Holding
- Marketech Maldives
- Pioneer Maldives
The state budget for 2022 had a forecast of an estimated MVR148 million as receivables to the state through tourism development projects, which is an MVR6 million increment over expected revenue for the year.