Maldives owed $97 million in unpaid tourism land rent, minister says

The government is owed about USD 97 million in unpaid land rent from islands leased for tourism, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Ameen said on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference at the President’s Office, Ameen said about 97 per cent of resort businesses were paying the taxes and rents required under existing laws and regulations.

He said the remaining three per cent included operators that had failed to meet their payment obligations, with some arrears dating back to 2013.

“The industry as a whole is paying taxes and rent in accordance with the law and regulations,” Ameen said. “However, there is more than USD 90 million outstanding from a small number of parties. This also includes parties that have not complied since 2013.”

Ameen said the government was working to recover unpaid land rent and fines in line with a Cabinet decision.

“We are working to recover the land rent and fines in accordance with the Cabinet decision, and we are seeing progress,” he said.

According to Ameen, figures from the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority show that about USD 97 million remains outstanding.

The minister said authorities were holding discussions with the parties concerned in an effort to recover the money. If the issue is not resolved through discussions, action would be taken within timelines already communicated to the operators, he said.

The Tourism Ministry has also introduced revised rules covering islands, lagoons and land leased for tourism that have remained undeveloped for extended periods.

Ameen said there were 168 tourism properties where development had not been completed, comprising 107 islands and 61 lagoons.

Some of the projects had remained incomplete for as long as 25 years, he said, adding that successive governments had failed to take adequate action on the issue.

The minister said the government could not allow tourism properties to remain in the hands of individual parties indefinitely without providing a return to the state or the public.

Ameen said repeated extensions granted by successive governments had resulted in substantial deferred rent and other liabilities. He cited figures showing about USD 537 million associated with such projects.

“These matters have to be brought to a conclusion,” he said.

Under the revised regulations, developers of stalled tourism projects will be given another opportunity to proceed with development.

However, Ameen said properties where no development work had been carried out for more than eight years could be repossessed immediately.

The government has said the revised framework is intended to address long-running stalled tourism projects while also improving recovery of money owed to the state.