Sri Lankan resort developer to sell Ethere Madivaru island

Lease rights of AA. Ethere Madivaru, which had been leased to a Sri Lankan national to develop a resort, are being sold to an unidentified party, according to the tourism ministry. 

While transferring the rights of islands leased for tourism purposes from one party to the other, the tourism ministry makes public announcements to check if there is any debt. The ministry has included Ethere Madivaru in an announcement made on Monday.

The ministry has asked the public to report any debt or issue related to the island to the ministry within the next 14 days.

However, it is not clear who is buying the island.

The island was leased to Chithrupa Premalal Ajith Wijeyesekera, Chairman of Sri Lanka-based Union Resorts.

In 2019, the Maldivian Civil Court had granted the right to sell the island in a civil suit filed by the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) for defaulting on a secured loan. With this, the BOC opened the island for auction in July 2019.

However, it was not clear whether the BOC had sold the island at the time or whether the bank had released mortgage on the island after the borrower later settled the loan dues. It is also not certain if BOC was the seller this time.

The island was in the possession of a local before it was leased to a Sri Lankan party. At that time, the company had signed a management agreement with Emaar Hospitality, Dubai's largest real estate and hotel company, to open a resort in the island. However, the project was stalled later.