Hulhumalé is an extremely interesting project, the modern world's first attempt to relocate two-thirds of a country's population into a new city that is being created almost from scratch. Where are you currently at with the project?

The initial idea for Hulhumalé was generated in mid-1990. Once it began, the reclamation took about five years and it was about 188 hectares, a similar size to Malé, the capital of the Maldives. This was Phase I and the initial resettlement was 1000 people. It was a humble beginning with very little infrastructure, but the idea of Hulhumalé has been transformed by our new government. We have the most visionary leader the Maldives has ever had and he has carved out a clear path for Hulhumalé. The new city will transform not only the physical space it is built on, but bring solutions to many of the challenges we face here in the Maldives, such as a housing deficit and lack of public amenities. Hulhumalé will be the Maldives' biggest and only planned city, and with this new city comes new benchmarks and new expectations, for the investors, other stakeholders and the public.

In Phase II we added 244 hectares, bringing Hulhumalé's total size to 432 hectares. While it took five years to reclaim 188 hectares in the previous reclamation project, under President Yameen we were able to reclaim 244 hectares in nine weeks. When the project began, we envisioned 30,000 people living there, and in the last couple of years we have expanded our target to 80,000 people. We are also transforming the idea of Hulhumalé and its concept to what we call our Youth City, which will be made up of different development areas and features.

Commercial and industrial activities in Hulhumalé have increased. Major roads are being laid, and that will be completed in December. Utilities projects are currently underway, to be completed next year. Many housing projects have already begun laying foundations. Our current focus is to develop the remaining 70 percent of Phase I and develop 100 percent of phase II. As of now, only 30% of Phase I has been completed. I would say the scope of the overall project has increased by 200-300%. Our main focus is on infrastructure, and ensuring that any facilities needed for Phase II are functional. We hope Phase II will be completed in 6-8 months.


What will Hulhumalé look like in 2020? Can you paint a picture of the vision for Hulhumalé?

There are five key aspects to our vision for Hulhumalé. Firstly, we want to create the best residential housing in the region. We will address this important social issue in the greater Malé region by developing 40,000 housing units that will bring the population to 240,000. This figure represents roughly two-thirds the population of the entire Maldives. We are making sure to build both social housing and luxury housing to ensure the housing market is well balanced. We have created control measures that make sure we have enough spaces within the buildings for parking, communal facilities, etc.

Second, we hope to have a very good mix of residential products that will create solutions for the needs of the people as well as the visitors by 2020. Alongside that, we are working to create enough jobs for the 240,000 residents who live here and for those who come here to work. We hope to create 85,000-100,000 job opportunities here in Hulhumalé.

Third, we will ensure that the Maldives is the best place for foreign investors to invest their money. To make sure we do this, we must provide investment opportunities in different areas. For instance, we are building a tourism zone in the city, modelled off of similar concepts in Singapore and Dubai. The tourism zone will be 23 hectares and include hotels, shopping, restaurants, and other tourism products. We are considering the possibility of making it a duty free zone. All is centrally located and a convenient ten minute ride from the airport. The new airport will help bring us to our goal of 7 million passengers and we need to build amenities mirroring this new volume.

Fourth, we will be converting public spaces into major attractions and recreational zones, including sports facilities and other venues that facilitate a balanced lifestyle. Finally, we are focusing on building sustainable city design that contains green development. Well planned cities like Singapore have so many botanical gardens that have the dual purpose of adding green spaces to the city and creating new tourist sites. Our green initiative will not only green the whole city but will also drive tourism activity. We hope to achieve all of these things by 2020.

What are the benefits of investing in Hulhumalé? What incentive packages should investors know about if they are interested in in any of the phases of development in Hulhumalé?

We are replicating Dubai's model with our IT Park, tourism zone, and other major district zones, just on a smaller scale. For all these district level projects, we work closely with the Economic Ministry to make sure we are aligned with the investment incentives structures designed by the government. This includes tax holiday periods, long lease periods, grace periods, and lower rates during the initial investment recovery period. These programs are applied depending on the particular project, and we negotiate the terms of each incentives package directly with the investor. The Maldives is open for investment.

I understand Hulhumalé also aims to have a business district. What message would you like to send to international companies, especially from the Gulf that could be interested in setting up shop in this unique city?

There are so many companies based in the GCC that already support our tourism industry. We are working to ensure that Hulhumalé's business district has a world-class infrastructure. Working on opportunities, for example, laying submarine cables, will ensure we have the ICT infrastructure which allows these international companies to branch out to the Maldives. The location of the Maldives allows businesses with a presence here to connect to both the Indian and Asian continents, providing a strategic advantage. We also provide a number of incentives, such as the business profit tax which is at a low 15% rate, much lower than most other countries. All of these things make the Maldives an attractive place to do business.

What major projects would you highlight for an investor from the GCC?

If you park your money here in Hulhumalé, we assure you that a good return is guaranteed in any sector, and that we provide important incentives. If it's any sector I'd highlight, I'd say tourism is the most viable sector that has experienced the most growth over the years. Other industries may not grow quite as fast, but in those areas we are offering strong incentives to encourage investment. Currently the Hulhumalé project has more than $2.3 billion in investment.


The GCC is a Muslim region, and the Maldives promotes itself as 100% Muslim country. How does the Maldives cater towards the Muslim investor? Are there Sharia compliant products and services in Hulhumalé that could be of interest to that investor?

We can assure our fellow Muslims in the Gulf that the majority of our products are halal. For instance, with our tourism products, in Hulhumalé, all of our hotels in Phase I and Phase II, with the exception of those in the tourism zone, are halal compliant. The shops you can invest in here are halal investments as well and the financial services we aim to offer are mainly Islamic.