Nasheed: Floating city solution to multiple issues, a matter of pride

Parliament Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed states the floating islands project launched on Sunday is the solution to multiple issues such as land shortage, and that the project is a matter of pride for Maldives.

The initial agreement to utilize floating islands technology to build resorts in Maldives was signed back in 2010 during Nasheed’s administration.

News of the project resurfaced in international media in 2015, before eventually dying down.

The future of the project remained uncertain until the Maldivian government signed a second agreement with Dutch Docklands in 2019 - to build a floating city near the Maldivian capital.

The project was officially launched last Sunday.

According to Dutch Docklands, the project will be rolled out in phases over the course of 10 years. The floating city will be built in a lagoon a 10-minute ride away from the Maldivian capital, which will have thousands of housing units.

Speaking during the parliamentary sitting on Monday morning, Nasheed noted that it will be the world’s first floating city.

He said that the technology serves as a solution to the shortage of land space, as well as the threat of climate change and sea level rise.

“It’s a matter of pride for all of us that this project will begin in Maldives,” he said.

The floating city will be built over a 200-hector lagoon area near Male’ City. Dutch Docklands states construction work on the project will begin in 2022, and that the city, once complete, will have a residential area as well as hotels, shops and restaurants.