Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), on Sunday, announced a public tender to lease lounge spaces from the new seaplane terminal at Velana International Airport (VIA).
MACL invited interested parties, which must be business entities with a license to operate a resort, seaplane or tour, to register in the bidding via an expression of interest submitted before 1300 hrs on December 10.
Meanwhile, all bids are to be submitted before 1300 hrs on December 30.
All applicants are required to deposit USD 10,000 (MVR 154,200) as bid security for each lounge area.
The winning parties are stipulated to set up and operate executive lounges in accordance with the guidelines and instructions of MACL.
The newly constructed seaplane terminal cost the government USD 55 million (MVR 848 million) to complete.
MACL's controversial decision to hand over the majority of the new seaplane terminal to Trans Maldivian Airlines (TMA) was also widely scrutinised, with the parliament's Public Finance Committee moving to investigate the matter earlier in February.
An audit conducted as per a directive of the parliamentary committee revealed that the contentious deal would have resulted in an annual loss of MVR 41 million to the state.
Although MACL initially decided to lease 31,000 square meters of the terminal to TMA well below the market price, at a rate of USD 10.35 per square meter, for a period of 15 years, the Ministry of Finance has since directed MACL's board to lease 6,400 square meters for a two-year period to TMA instead.
MACL is directly leasing the executive lounge spaces to resorts, airlines operating seaplanes and tour operators.
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