President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih officially opened the newly-developed Madivaru airport in Lhaviyani Atoll. The national carrier Maldivian is due to start scheduled flights on Sunday.
The Housing Development Corporation stands to earn MVR1 billion (US$648 million) from the sale of 60 beachfront plots from Hulhumalé. The state-owned company announced bid winners for 34 plots auctioned in the second round of sales. More than 179 people submitted bids ranging from MVR9,700 to MVR3,500 per square foot. The size of the plots is between 1,603 to 2,633 square feet. Winning bids for 26 plots from the artificial island were announced last week.
Ooredoo announced a partnership with Rakuten to enable its money transfer service via the messaging platform Viber.
Pioneers of tourism in the Maldives reunited for the release of stamps commemorating the golden jubilee of tourism. The first tourists arrived on 16 February 1972.
George Corbin, the tour operator who brought the first group, joined his former partners Ahmed Naseem, Hussain Afeef and Mohamed Umar Manik along with the first tourism minister Ahmed Mujtaba to launch the stamp collection.
A new ship of the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company bought a record 155 tonnes of fish at the southern port of Thinadhoo. It was the largest daily volume of catch weighed in the company’s history, the Felivaru cannery’s manager told state media.
The tourism ministry has revised agreements for 75 islands leased for resort development to impose a three-year deadline for completion, Tourism Minister Dr Abdulla Mausoom told parliament, acknowledging that securing financing was the main obstacle for stalled projects.
He also revealed that the government is in the process of selling its 32 percent stake in the Shangri-La resort in Addu City. But the tourism law needs to be amended to facilitate the share transfer at a lower cost, Dr Mausoom noted, telling lawmakers that legislation would be submitted in two weeks.
Local resort construction company Bison Maldives was contracted to build the first homes in the ‘Maldives Floating City,’ a 5,000-house development by Dutch Docklands in a lagoon near the capital. Based on specifications designed by engineers from the Netherlands, the housing units are to be tethered to the lagoon floor and linked together. The first homes are expected to be completed in mid-2022.
“I look forward to taking members of the public to the first houses, so they can see the project for themselves. In such an innovative development, seeing is believing,” said Maldives Floating City director Ibrahim Riyaz.
“This development will provide more housing to Greater Malé area and is also an innovative climate adaptation project,” tweeted former president Mohamed Nasheed.
Technology Minister Aminath Shauna held a virtual meeting with SpaceX’s Starlink’s market access director to discuss “plans to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the globe using their advanced satellites.”
The State Trading Organisation hiked fuel prices for the second time this year, citing increasing global oil prices. STO raised the price of petrol from MVR12.06 per litre to MVR12.98 per litre. The price of diesel was increased from MVR12.44 per litre to MVR13.04 per litre.
The State Electricity Company launched its annual ‘Save Energy’ campaign to encourage households to optimise electricity use as temperatures soar during the dry northeastern monsoon.
7,668 tourists arrived in a new single-day record after borders reopened in July 2020, beating the previous pandemic record of 7,098 arrivals on 26 December.
131,764 holidaymakers visited in January, up 43 percent from the same period last year. But the figure was below pre-pandemic levels as Chinese tourists – who previously comprised the top source market – have yet to return. Some 151,552 arrivals were recorded in January 2019.
Maldivian fashion designer Raidha Shafeeq‘s spring and summer collection was showcased at the Dubai Expo.
“Happy to see such creative artistic talent from the Maldives on international platforms. Proud to see women entrepreneurs like [Raidha] lead the way,” tweeted Arts and Culture Minister Yumna Maumoon, thanking the Swiss Pavillion for hosting the show.
Customs collected MVR312 million (US$20 million) in January, up 30 percent from the same period last year. Both imports and exports grew by nearly 50 percent compared to January 2021.
A park for senior citizens was opened on the Feydhoo island of Addu City. The project was financed by the Bank of Maldives’ Community Fund. “This natural space aims to promote healthy lifestyles and wellbeing of senior citizens while encouraging them to engage in social activities in the community,” the bank said.
