A land reclamation project has been commenced at the guesthouse
island, Kaafu Atoll Maafushi on December 26.
The first island to introduce local tourism in the Maldives, the reclamation of
Maafushi is being undertaken to address the issues of overcrowding, lack of
land space and small beach area.
The project was inaugurated by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's advisor
Mohamed Shihab in a ceremony held in the island on Wednesday evening. It is a
presidential pledge of President Solih to increase land space in the island
through reclamation.
The Land Reclamation and Shore Protection of K. Maafushi was awarded to Maldives
Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) on 27th August 2019 by the Ministry of
National Planning and Infrastructure for MVR 99,981,373 to be completed in 249
days. This project includes 25 hectares of reclamation and construction of
1100m revetment.
Addressing at the inauguration ceremony, CEO of MTCC Hassan Shah said the company
aims to complete the project ahead of the deadline. Shah said the project could
not be immediately implemented when it was contracted to the company back in
August as there were some formalities that needed to be completed before
commencing the project. This includes the completion of an Environment Impact
Assessment (EIA) and public consultancy, said Shah.
The Minister of Planning & Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam was also in
attendance at the function. Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Aslam said the
implementation of the project was delayed to conduct the EIA and due to public
consultancy. Public consultation was sought as the administration wished to
develop the island according to what the people of the island wanted. The
minister expressed his confidence that the land reclaimed from Maafushi will
substantially contribute to the economy of the country.
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