In an earlier post on this blog I suggested that Aarah could be changed as a holiday resort for Maldivians. But now I suggest that Dhoonidhoo-Jail-Island would be a better choice for conversion as a holiday resort for Maldivians. Aarah could be put up for international bid and leased as a luxury resort for mega-rich billionaires such as Abrahamovich, Prince Al Walid and other billionaires from Russia, Middle East, China, India, United States, United Kingdom, etc. The Luxury yacht that Gayyoom used could also be leased along with Aarah.
Private body guards and security services could be provided at this luxury retreat and the government could facilitate the provision of MNDF or police personnel for security purposes in this retreat (after charging a fee). Converting Aarah as a luxury retreat for the mega rich could bring huge revenue for our tourism industry and provide a new form of tourism as well.
Excellent idea. I thought of this as my special area in tourism as a businessmen. I was planning to built an island like this. But i quite do not understand why you mentioned for Maldivians "Dhoonidhoo-Jail-Island would be a better choice"? I think maldivians deserve also luxury holidays or atleast affordable and decent service where color of the skin is not judged.
ReplyDeleteI did not mean that Dhoonidhoo should be left as it is when we open it as a resort for Maldivians! What I meant was that Dhoonidhoo should be developed with standard rooms and other facilities such as a swimming pool and public restaurants and coffess shops and basic accomodation facilities and water sports facilities, etc. and then rented out to the best bidder for development and management as a toursit resort for Maldivians. Normally our resorts do not welcome Maldivians even if we are willing to pay the "dollars"! We are discriminated. Most operators of resorts prefer to keep the rooms empty rather than renting those to locals! So why not convert our ex-torture-chamber (Dhoonidhoo) into a place where we can pay an affordable fee and enjoy our weekends and holidays? Please!
ReplyDeleteriiite.... and what do you expect to do with all the inmates in dhoonidhoo island? let them roam free in male'?! N don't say the inmates don't deserve to be there.. cox I know not everyone in Jail is there because of political reasons
ReplyDeleteAsluves. dhoonidhoo inmates...so do you have any suggestion where to put them..wel well excellant ideas for businessmen,,,when did they become so publice service oriented,,heheh,,no way..the sooner the resort is put up the sooner you'll be thinking of dollars and Euros,
ReplyDeleteBala Kokko,kaleah neyngunas haadha kameh veyey!Aarashuge vaahaka thi dhakkanee ennu anaga furaafa.Maadhan aa Raees Anni bafaabege launchgai ethanah aailaa aai rahumaiytherin govaigen vadaiganeyoa.Vaki las vejje.Eyruves aharumennah engey mihen kan vaane!Dhenves thibey kaley men emeehun jahaa berakah nashaala nashaala...
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think we don't need so many "Minsiter of State" positions. If we have a Permananet Secretary for each specific area under the minsitry, then we can have just a Minister and a Deputy. For example if there is a Minsitry called "Minister of Civil Aviations, Toursim and Culture", we could have three Permanent Secretaries for the three areas (1. Tourism, 2. Cuture, 3. Civil Aviations). Then if we have a Minsiter and a Deputy Minister that's enough. Too many State Minsiter appointments seem like "political gifts". This makes the government too top-heavy. Sad to see this happening.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I believe that it will be against the spirit of Nasheed's camapign promises if he were to use Aarah as a retreat for the president. I don't believe that Presidnet Nasheed will do that. He is too humble for such a thing. Let's give him some time to decide what his government will do with Aarah. I believe it will be along the line of leasing the island for soem commercially profitable investment.
ReplyDeleteOne reader asked what I suggest to do with the inmates in Dhoonidhoo if the island were to be converted to a resort for locals! Well those inmates could be moved to Maafushi or we could build a large, multi-purpose jail at Thilafushi or Hulhumale that will be safe enough and big enough to accomodate all inmates at all jails.
ReplyDeleteIm sure you know about Himmafushi case., children and women were so frihtened when they all fled and were roaming in the island,,..Safe and big enough at Hulhumale'& thilafushi..Qstn: Is this possible!! can we affored to repeat the same situation.
ReplyDeleteWould you agree on a idea of a jail at Addu..?
Sorry, I didn't say Himmafushi. I said Thilafushi or Hulhumale. Come to think of it, it will be better to buid a multi-purpose jail at Thilafushi perhaps. Just an idea!
ReplyDeleteBushry., I m not exactly sure what you mean by "a new form of tourism" here. One of the best USP of Maldives can be the safety one can get from here (which is not widely spoken of) and I don't know why you are so much into these crazy ideas of yours – to have a hospitality service with MNDF and maybe couple of CCTV cameras.
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify one thing for you - Aarah is not such an appealing place that could make "Mega Rich Billionaires" want to come. The island itself is not that beautiful, it doesn’t have a nice beach area and a house reef as well which are the key factors one will look before deciding (if you don’t believe have a boat ride near the island).
Talking about the privacy I think Aarah could be one of the worst islands to develop as a luxury retreat because of the location. The island is very much exposed to the area mainly because of the immense boat movements over the area by nearby resorts – the airport is very close and all the nearby islands have boats going back and forth while seaplanes take off towards Aarah as well. (now don’t give another crazy idea saying that we can ask all the boats to take another route to go to the airport which can make a 15 minute ride maybe to 30 minutes and also seaplanes can take off towards another direction)
Further more to the Aarah idea of yours, I really think you are promoting this crazy idea only because the island was used by the ex-president and you believe that can make “Mega Rich Billionaires” want to JUST come over. Well, then what about the likes of One & Only, Taj Hotels, W Resort, Soneva Resorts, Four Seasons Resorts and etc who are doing multi-million dollar marketing campaigns across the globe.?? (also it is interesting that these are some of the most famous luxury brands among the “Mega Rich Billionaires” when they go for vacations and on the other hand I really doubt that these brands will invest or get affiliated with anyone to develop Aarah as a top luxury retreat when the Maldives has so many other extremely beautiful islands)
Since we are having world’s top luxury hotel brands I also wonder how anyone will convince the guests that Aarah is the better place to visit..?? I really don’t think you can keep on advertising the place saying 24 hr security service will be provided by MNDF with applied “charges”..!! By now I think you should also know that the “Mega Rich Billionaires” will demand for the utmost privacy during their vacations and extra security for Aarah will just ruin their needs. (I really think Coast Guard should be in very close range to the island in order to make sure some gunmen don’t get into the island and spoil the holidaymakers’ mood.., what you think Bush??)
PS: I think Aarah will be a better place for the locals because it is very close to Male’, Hulhu-Male’ and Villingili and it can be developed as one of the holiday destination near Male’. We can also develop more such islands in other areas, targeting for the locals :-)
Most resorts do not welcome local as paying guests is because majority of the locals do lack in good manners, even local staff are discouraged from interacting with guests unless if it is necessary. Giving tourists peace & security is more important than money earned from local guests. Villingili, Hulhumale & Kuda Bandos is enough for us. @X
ReplyDeleteWhen you say inmates, i think that they are not wild animals that need cages to suvive, majority of the prisoner are drug addicts(patients) and political prisoner(fighting for justice), the new government should be able to control them not to make high standard prisons.
ReplyDelete