Tourism Act bill debate, committee work concluded in one day

Within just a day of commencing work, the Parliament of the Maldives today concluded the debate and committee stage work of the Maldives Tourism Act amendment bill.

The bill, which seeks to change the fee payment period for extension of lease periods for islands and land plots issued for resort development was proposed to the parliament by MP of Dhangethi constituency Abdulla Rasheed, on behalf of the government.

The first reading of the bill was held on Tuesday, after which the preliminary debate commenced today. While typically there are no Parliament sessions on Thursdays, a special session was scheduled today specifically to work on this bill.

The overall debate on the bill took about one hour, with members expressing the necessity and importance of the bill, and calling for progress of the bill to be expedited.

Following the debate, a vote was called for, with all 75 attending members unanimously supporting to pass the bill. This prompted the bill to be escalated to the Committee of the Whole House.

Following the session today, Speaker Abdul Raheem commenced the Committee of the Whole House meeting. Almost immediately, MP of Funadhoo constituency Mohamed Mamdhooh proposed to pass the bill without further debate or amendments.

Several other members supported this suggestion.

However, opposition and minority party Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s Parliamentary Group leader and MP of South Hithadhoo constituency Ibrahim Nazil questioned why the bill was being so hastened. Nazil said he wants to know the purpose of expediting the bill so much and clarified what future benefits the amendment would produce.

Speaker Abdul Raheem did not answer Nazil's question, and said he does not believe that the question warrants an answer. Instead, he said that the members would have the opportunity to present amendments and debate on the bill.

After that, MP of north Machhangolhi and ruling party People's National Congress (PNC) member Ibrahim Mohamed took a jab at Nazil and said that those who are concerned about the fast pace of this bill are those who work against tourism investments.

Upon concluding the committee debate, 76 members in attendance voted to escalate the bill to the Parliament floor without any further changes.

According to the law in effect, the lease of an island or land plot issued for resort development can only be extended for up to 50 years from the date of issue. Any extension beyond this would require the leasing party to agree to pay USD 100,000 for every year extended, and to settle the payment within two years.

If the party wishes to delay the payment period beyond two years, then the fee doubles to USD 200,000 for every year extended on the lease, while also having to settle USD 5 million within two years as a one lump sum payment.

However, the new amendment seeks to shorten the payment durations.

According to the bill:

- If payment is to be settled within six months, the charge would be USD 100,000 per each year extended. - If payment is to be settled within a period longer than six months, the charge would be USD 200,000 per each year extended.

According to the existing law, the lease can be extended for a period of 49 years if the parting leasing the land or island does not have any outstanding rent, fine, tax or fee owed to the government.

The law also states that USD 5 million has to be settled as a one time fee of extending the lease within the first two years. If the lease is to be extended for 99 years, then the amount goes upto USD 10 million.

The new amendment proposed seeks to change this as well. According to it, the USD 5 million has to be settled within six months, and if it is paid after six months, then the amount goes up to USD 10 million.