Kelaa to release more land for tourism

Tourism Ministry and H. A. Kelaa Council have signed an agreement to allocate more land from Kelaa to develop tourist hotels and guesthouses.

The Memorandum of Understanding for allocation of land from Kelaa for tourism development was signed by Tourism Ministry’s Senior Policy Director Mohamed Hussaan and Kelaa Council’s President Adam Gufran.

Gufran said that allocating more land from Kelaa for tourism will develop the tourism business in the island and drive the economic development of the island.

He said that the initiative will create more employment opportunities in Kelaa, and develop and expand the health and education system in the island.

Kelaa will be issuing 14 plots of land for development of guesthouses and hotels; 12 plots of land measuring 5,000 square feet and two plots of land measuring 10,000 square feet.

Kelaa Council reports the plots will be open for tender before the end of this February.

A private company was previously awarded 864,414 square feet of land and surrounding water area to build a hotel in Kelaa.

Tourism Minister Dr. Abdulla Mausoom said on Monday that Maldives is seeing development of tourism in its northern and southern regions.

He said that while Kelaa is braced to allocate more land for tourism, authorities are braced to present confirmation papers to those who won the tender for the new land allocated from Addu for tourism.

Mausoom said that the guesthouses and hotels in Kelaa will not result in the development of the island alone, but the entire region.