Tourism Minister Mohamed Ameen stated today that the number of uncompleted resorts has increased significantly, and projects have been prolonged because the matter was neglected in past days.
Regarding the new regulations published by the Ministry of Tourism today concerning how to handle places leased for tourism development where work has remained unfinished over a long period, Minister Ameen stated that granting requests to extend the construction period (CP) and allowing things to go on for extended periods resulted in the loss of the public's rights.
Under four categories, prolonged and uncompleted resorts will be handled through the new regulation. Among them, the ministry has the power to immediately terminate the agreements of places that have gone more than eight years without any work being done.
Ameen stated that in implementing this regulation, actions taken against parties that have taken bank loans to develop the islands will be handled by ensuring that their rights are not stripped away either.
He acknowledged that this issue, having dragged on for so long, cannot be resolved in a single day. However, the minister noted that the new regulation will provide some solutions to this major problem.
"Giving anyone the opportunity to take islands for tourism purposes without doing anything and just sit on them is a very bad thing. It is not good at all, it must not be allowed to remain that way," Tourism Minister Ameen stated.
"This is the result of letting things go on by splitting the remaining payments over the extended period when requests were made to extend the construction period without paying attention over a long time. Since these are things a government must do, our government is the one that initiated this."
Ameen stated that some islands have had their construction periods extended up to 25 years. Among the islands leased for tourism development, the number of places where timelines have dragged on and remain uncompleted reaches 168. This includes 107 lagoons.
Out of the funds that should be received by the state from such places, USD 537 million remains uncollected to date.
"Such places cannot be kept in the hands of certain parties for such a long period. When leased or under an agreement, the requirement is to complete those matters within a specific period and bring them into operation. The importance of bringing them into operation is that afterwards, because of the arriving tourists, the country receives TGST, Green Tax, or Airport Development Fee as well," he stated.
