Majority share of resort on Dhonakulhi island sold to Crown Company

Major shares of Island Hideaway, the tourist resort on Dhonakulhi island in Haa Alif atoll have been sold to Crown Company.

Malla Ahmed Nasir (Naabe’), one of the shareholders of Lily Hotels who manages Island Hideaway, said that the resort will now be managed by a joint venture company named Dhonakulhi Investment of which, Crown Company holds 51 percent of shares. Famous entrepreneur Champa Hussain Afeef holds shares in Crown Company.

“We’ve been managing this island jointly with a foreigner. But we’ve purchased the shares from the foreigner before selling it to Champa,” Malla Ahmed Nasir said.

He said that they were forced to sell the island as the land rent for the 1.4 kilo metre long 500 metre wide island had spiked dramatically due to amendments to the Tourism Act. The island has been running at a loss for the past two year, he said.

“The island’s rent had doubled following the amendment to the law, because this island is quite big. This caused a great loss. We tried to get permits to construct new rooms and it has now been facilitated. This was a great relief,” Malla Ahmed Nasir said.

Also first yacht marina constructed in the Maldives, Island Hideaway has 48 Villas of 8 distinct styles.

Malla Ahmed Nasir said that they have recently received a permit to construct 77 more rooms on the island and that 52 of them will be constructed in the initial phase of the redevelopment. The resort was opened for business in 2005.

Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has issued a public announcement to verify if there were any debts regarding the sell-off of the island. The announcement asks for any party who has a pending debt or any other problems regarding the island to come forth before the 4th of next month, as the party that had initially leased the island to develop and manage a tourist resort, has requested for a permit to transfer all shares under the lease to another party.