Govt slams opposition for 'misleading' public on land sale

Government on Thursday said that the opposition is talking about the government selling land to foreigners to mislead the people.

At a press conference held at the President's Office on  Thursday, presidential spokesperson Miuvan Mohamed was responding to a question about the sale of land from Thilafushi to foreign Maldivians and the opening up of long-term leases to foreigners.

"There is a provision in the Constitution that no foreign entity can own land. It is very clear in the Constitution and has been clearly stated in clear language," Miuvan said.

Reiterating that lands in Thilafushi are given on long-term lease to foreigners, Miuvan said this has been highlighted in HDC’s announcements regarding the lands.

Miuvan also noted that foreign investors in the Maldives are already developing and operating resorts by renting out islands for a long period of time.

"You know, for a very long period of time, 99 years, or 49 years, 50 years, islands have been leased out to foreign investors. Isn't that how we're leasing the resorts? That's how we are talking about leasing out land from an industrial area in the same country," he said.

"I will describe it as an attempt by the opposition to mislead the people."

During former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's tenure, efforts were made to lease out a portion of the Faafu atoll area to the Saudi royal family for 99 years to develop as a 'mixed development project'.

He said that the project was halted after MDP, which was in the opposition at the time, protested against the plans to lease Faafu to Saudi, and the investors had backed off.

At the press conference, the journalist had asked what was the difference between the F. Atoll project and the leasing of land from Thilafushi and what was the government's stand on the matter. However, Miuvan did not answer that part of the question.

The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) released the details of the sale of 50 plots of land in Thilafushi for industrial purposes on Tuesday. HDC is expected to get at least MVR 763.9 million from the sale of these lands.

Opposition lawmakers have been raising concerns over the manner in which land has been leased from Thilafushi. Some of the members also said that while foreigners were allowed to lease out land, the land was allotted a much lower price.