Appeals have been made to the Tourism Ministry to extend the construction period of 21 islands which were leased for resort development.
According to Tourism Minister Ali Waheed, 70 islands were leased to develop into resorts. The development of these projects has been delayed, due to which the Tourism Ministry gave the opportunity to extend the construction period.
Out of 70 resorts, 21 resorts requested to extend the construction period and the extension process is ongoing.
The Minister also stated that, if a resort developer wishes to increase the amount of time between the lease and resort opening, they will have to pay USD 15,000 for the first two years, and USD 20,000 for every following month of the extension as CSR funds.
The investors have to pay the CSR funds directly to the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA), which will then be utilized to develop the atoll in which the respective resort is situated.
Tourism Ministry’s statistics show 140 resort development projects are currently underway in the Maldives.
