Lagoon and island granted to Giraavaru financier on 99 year lease

The Ministry of Economic Development has announced that the contractor financing the reclamation of Giraavaru lagoon will be granted Noonu Atoll's Dhigufalhu lagoon and Dhekenanfaru; an uninhabited island in the same atoll on a 99 year lease as repayment.

Under the large-scale land reclamation project, a total of 120 hectares of land will be reclaimed in Giraavaru lagoon. The Ministry confirmed that the project will conclude sometime during July 2023.

In response to a Right-to-Information (RTI) request from "Mihaaru News", the Ministry has stated that the purpose of the reclamation project in Giraavaru is to allocate a minimum of 2,000 plots of land.

The reclamation project was contracted to a consortium led by the Capital Marine and Civil Construction Company Private Limited (CMC), along with the participation of Netherlands’ construction group Boskalis.

While CMC was contracted with the reclamation of 20 hectares in Thilafushi, Boskalis was contracted to reclaim land in Gulhifalhu.

The Maldives government has announced that it will reveal the landowners of Giraavaru during the month of June. This comes after the government's earlier announcement to allocate plots of land from the Greater Malé region as well.

The Maldives government made an announcement on December 16, 2022, seeking investors for the development of a mixed residential city in Giraavaru lagoon.

The investment opportunity was opened under a cross-subsidy approach and the bid was won by Switzerland businessman Yanik Robert Louis Gianadda.

The Maldives government had previously announced a policy of leasing islands, land, or lagoons to investors who undertake significant pre-planned developmental projects. The Ministry stated that the agreement between the government and Gianadda aligns with this policy.

The development of a residential city in Giraavaru lagoon through a large-scale land reclamation was approved through a presidential decree.

“The government offered to lease Noou atoll Dhigufalhu and Dhekenanfaru to Yanik Robert Louis Gianadda, who is the primary investor in the residential city development project in Kaafu atoll Giraavaru lagoon,” the Ministry said.

“The lease acquisition cost for the island and lagoon is USD 22 million, and another USD 5 million was paid to extend the lease to 99 years.”

The islands, located in Noonu atoll are neighboring islands while the lagoon spans an area of approximately six square kilometers.

The Ministry confirmed that the island and the lagoon were leased to the Swiss businessman conditioning the investor to pay regular taxes according to the Tourism Act.

While the land reclamation in Giraavaru lagoon is expected to conclude next month, the completion of the project including shore protection is expected in August 2024.

The Maldives government has announced the issuance of land in Malé City after a period of nearly 40 years. A total of 5,000 plots will be allocated to residents of Greater Malé, with 1,000 plots from Hulhumalé and 2,000 plots each from Gulhifalhu and Giraavaru.

In February 2023, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced that additional plots would be issued from the islands, expanding the allocation of land for residential purposes. However, the exact number of additional plots was not disclosed at that time.

The Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure said that it received a total of 15,164 applications for the housing scheme.