Govt negligent in leasing Bathala: Audit

The Auditor General's office has said that there have been violations in leasing an island for resort development in the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve.

As per the environmental audit regarding the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve, the agreement to lease B. Bathala for 20 years was written up before it was determined by the President that the island is to be leased for tourism purposes.

The island was leased for USD 4 per square meter. The Audit Office stated that since the ministry and the party that took on the lease had not told the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) the size of the island, it was unclear how much the rent was supposed to be up until the agreement was voided. 

The region surrounding Bathala was designated a biosphere reserve in June 2011, with the island being  given out under use rights by the Ministry of Fisheries. The audit report states that the Fisheries Ministry had told the company they had given use rights to that the agreement had been voided three years after they had voided it.

"Even though the island is in a protected area, the island had been given under use rights for three and two months, the time when the region became a protected area, the company was given approval to use the island," as per the audit report.

The audit report also stipulates the island may not have been used in an environmentally friendly manner during that period. The report went on to say that the Environment Ministry had not acknowledged that the island was under use rights when the area was designated a protected region.

The report stated that there is no system that provides information on a ministry's decisions and subsequent updates.

The agreement from the Tourism Ministry to develop Bathala as a resort was written up in October 2023. However, the information in the agreement was only shared to MIRA in July 2016. The Tourism Ministry voided the agreement a month later.

Even though it took a long time for the Tourism Ministry to provide the information to MIRA, the authority proceeded to begin their work in acquiring the rental payments from the company once upon receiving the information. 

As per the information provided by the company, the rent had been paid to MIRA. The audit report stated that as the Tourism Ministry had not given the documents regarding the land area of the island, the authenticity of the exact rent payment amount to MIRA was not conclusive.

As the island is in a protected region when it was given for tourism purposes, there were prohibitions that came along with it. However, the audit reports read that the government had not acted on a coastal protection project from the Biosphere Reserve office that had taken place after they had told the government about it.

And so, the audit report concludes that the Tourism Ministry had not carried out their responsibilities to the best of their ability.