Hanimadhoo Council Signs Agreement for New City Hotel Development

Hanimadhoo Council has signed an agreement with Awesome Properties Pvt Ltd, a company owned by former President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hussain, to develop a city hotel on a 40,000-square-foot plot of land.

The project was officially handed over to Awesome Properties last Thursday, with the company set to undertake the development in collaboration with a Chinese firm.

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The agreement stipulates that USD 56,000 (MVR 863,520) will be paid to the council every quarter, amounting to USD 224,000 (MVR 3.5 million) annually. He stated that the agreement was signed after the rent for the first year had been paid in advance, with subsequent payments to be made to the council’s account on a quarterly basis.

The agreement requires the city hotel to be developed within two years, with design proposals to be submitted within six months. While the exact concept has not been finalised, the plan is to construct the building as high as possible to maximise bed capacity.

The project, involving a 50-year lease of the land, will be the largest tourism development on the island to date. Hanimadhoo currently has one city hotel, Barefoot, which is built on a 200,000-square-foot plot of land and generates approximately MVR 100,000 in revenue for the council.

In April last year, the council opened 14 plots of 5,000 square feet and four plots of 10,000 square feet for tourism development. A total of 70 parties expressed interest in acquiring these plots.