BCC is working on planning the establishment of a garment factory in Addu and secured the land space required for it today.
Addu City Council today signed an agreement with Business Center Corporation (BCC) of Maldives to allocate 3,000 square feet of land to re-establish a garment factory in Addu, the southernmost city of the country.
BCC's Deputy Managing Director Saamih Adam said that the purpose of this agreement is to reduce the number of imported goods into the country and that exporting products manufactured from the facility is a long term goal.
He also detailed that while the project's design phase is now in effect, the operational plan and total cost of establishing and running the factory will be determined after the planning phase.
However, he detailed that the factory which will be located near Hithadhoo's port area will be funded with the assistance of World Bank.
The establishment of this factory would not be a new concept for the people of Addu, who saw the first garment factory opening in the city as early as 1981. Although certain conflicts led to the factory being closed in 1994, it was then reopened two years later in 1996.
Unfortunately, that factory closed again in 2005 - this time, permanently. At the time there were about 250 employees working at the factory.