India's MM Export to develop $30m resort in Maldives
Barges and tugs operated by India's MM Export have repeatedly run aground on Maldivian reefs and caused irreparable damage to marine ecosystems.
India's Mohan Mutha group, also known as MM Export, is all set to building a ‘wellness’ resort in Maldives, according to Indian media reports on Thursday.
A notable feature of the $30 million resort is that it will be an all-vegan-vegetarian resort, with no alcohol served, the group’s Executive Director Suresh Mutha told Businessline.
The project is awaiting one final approval from the Maldives authorities, and the debt will also be funded by a Maldivian bank, Suresh Mutha told the newspaper.
Although Suresh said the resort will be developed in "Vaadhoo Island", it is unclear which island he was referring to.
The Mohan Mutha group has its genesis in 1942, when the founder, Mohanlal Mutha, migrated to Chennai and started a trading business. After the business was split among Mutha and his six brothers, the Mohan Mutha group started an import-export business, which got them close to Maldives.
As a backward integration of the import-export business, the group got into logistics and today owns 15 tug and barges, which are deployed to carry cargo between India and Maldives.
Barges and tugs operated by India's MM Export have repeatedly run aground on Maldivian reefs and caused irreparable damage to marine ecosystems. Each time, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) imposes fines amounting to millions of Rufiyaa.
According to the EPA, the company’s barges and tugs have run aground six five times so far:
-
In 2014, a tug of MM Export ran aground on Thilafushi reef; originally fined MVR 22 million, but the fine was reduced to MVR 2.8 million at the request of the company
-
In 2015, a tug and barge of the company ran aground on K. Fushidhiggaru reef; the company was fined MVR 110 million for the damages, but later it was reduced to MVR 100 million; the tug was recovered four months later and the barge more than a year later
-
The fine was later reduced to the maximum amount of MVR 100 million under the regulations
-
Last May, the EPA had investigated the damage caused by a MM Export tugboat and barge carrying rock boulders to HA. Dhidhoo when it crashed onto a reef, but the fines levied have not been disclosed yet
-
A barge of the company carrying rock boulders for the coastal protection works in Fuvahmulah ran aground on on July 9; by the time the EPA began investigating the matter, the vessel had been recovered and left Maldives
The government has not received any fine payments from MM Export.
