Finance Minister Hassan Zareer has said the USD 20 billion mega-project agreed with UAE-based Eagle Hills to develop a world-class waterfront marina and real estate in Rasmalé is designed to provide a major solution to the dollar shortage facing the Maldives.
Speaking on PSM’s “Raajje Miadhu” programme, the minister said all revenue from the sale of lease rights for sites developed in Rasmalé will first be deposited in an escrow account opened jointly with the government at a bank in the Maldives.
He noted that the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has highlighted that a large share of the roughly USD 5 billion that enters the Maldivian economy each year leaves the country. However, he said the project would keep dollar circulation within the Maldivian banking system and bring major hoped-for changes to the economy. Through the sale of lease rights, about USD 30 billion would enter the Maldives in the project’s first year, and thereafter about USD 2 billion a year would flow into the economy from operating those sites, he said.
Payments due to contractors and suppliers under the project will be made through banks licensed in the Maldives. No tax holiday or exemption will be granted, and tax will be collected under ordinary laws. The government will receive 10 percent of revenue from commercially developed sites sold and a 4 percent registration fee on real estate transactions. Eagle Hills, which is running the project, is a company of Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Emaar — the developer behind landmarks such as Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall.
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