MFMC signs management pact with UAE company for Hankede
No major work has been done to develop Hankede.
Maldives Fund Management Corporation (MFMC) on Wednesday signed a hotel management agreement with a UAE company to operate Hankede, which is being developed as an integrated tourism project.
MFMC's official X account tweeted that it had signed a deal with Time Hotels, a UAE company, to operate Hankede.
MFMC Managing Director Ahmed Nazim signed the agreement during the Future Hospitality Summit for hospitality investors in Dubai.
Details of the deal with the company have not yet been released.
Time Hotels operates hotels in the UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Liberia.
While the contract was signed with a party to run the hotel, no major work has been done to develop Hankede.
Land reclamation under the Hankede project, which is being developed for integrated tourism in the southernmost Addu atoll, has been completed.
The project is being executed by the state-owned MFMC.
Land had been reclaimed from Maradhoo to Gaukendi, to separate Hankede from the mainland.
MFMC had in March 2023 awarded the long-awaited Hankede tourism project to China National Electrical Engineering Company (CNEEC), after securing loan of USD 142 million (MVR 2.2 billion) from a Chinese bank.
MFMC had earlier said that 1,041 rooms in different categories and ranges will be constructed in Hankede.
According to MFMC, the Hankede project will create jobs in Addu and open up more avenues for the southernmost city's development
Timeline of the Hankede project:
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In 2006, a company called Thoondu Private Limited was awarded a contract to develop a city hotel in Hankede
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The agreement with Thoondu was terminated for failure to carry out any works, and Hankede was then handed over to a company called Half Degree in 2008; the company also did not take up any work
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Subsequently, in June 2011, all rights related to Hankede were transferred to a Singapore-based company called Dalton Private Limited
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The company also released plans on how to develop Hankede
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The company decided to develop Hankede as a five-star resort
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In 2019, the deal with Dalton Private Limited was scrapped
