Guesthouses count the cost as stalled harbour smothers Fodhdhoo reef
Locals say prolonged dredging has damaged reef and driven tourists away.
Artwork: Dosain
6 hours ago
Tourists pay US$ 156 one way for the domestic flight to Noonu Fodhdhoo, drawn by the island's beach, a nearby sandbank and the house reef. But a year of stalled dredging has turned the water beside the harbour site too murky to see through. What remains of a reef once rich with coral and fish, guesthouse operators say, is a pale version of the one they sold to guests.
Satellite images show the harbour development – intended to solve difficulties faced by vessels docking at the concrete jetty during bad weather – has inched along for nearly a year. In that time, operators say the island's most prized reef has been smothered, shoreline trees stripped and tourist bookings have collapsed.
"The harbour is being built over the nicest reef of the island. The channel is also cut through an area of live coral. Because the work has been going on for a year, there's sand and stone washing up on the lagoon," said Abdulla Abbas, manager at Sabba Travel and Tours.
"Now the sea anemone on our reef has also died. A guest can't see anything in the water. The sea around the island is full of sediment. What can you see?"
The MVR 49.8 million (US$ 3.2 million) project was awarded to the Maldives Transport and Contracting Company in September 2023. Before work began in July last year, the environmental impact assessment flagged high live coral cover at the site and urged mitigation measures, concluding the project's socioeconomic benefits outweighed the environmental cost.
A year on, locals say the island is paying the cost without seeing the benefit.
Work is currently halted. An MTCC staffer at the site cited a broken excavator and a shortage of imported boulders. The state-owned contractor has been struggling to source material since the US war on Iran began, he said. The MTCC website shows progress at 10 percent as of late June.
Satellite images confirm the slow speed at which dredging has proceeded. A large number of trees from the shoreline were also removed near the project site over the past year.
A small underwater cave near the project site has also been completely filled with sand, Abbas recalled from a recent dive. A dive instructor at Fodhdhoo Dive Centre agreed. Others described a reef formerly thriving with diverse marine life, including black coral, sharks, and an abundance of fish.
When the Maldives Independent snorkelled the reef this month, the water beside the dredged area was muddied. The rest of the reef remained visible but showed little of the coral and fish life residents described.
The new harbour is located right next to the island's guest beach. Construction noise has also been disturbing tourists, Abbas said, blaming a record drop in the number of guests visiting the three guesthouses run by Sabba on the damage caused to the reef and the ongoing construction work.
"We had a guest here who came here this month, but they changed to Robinson [resort] because of the noise. There is no order to the work they do. They might start work even early in the morning at 5:30am," he said.
Unlike tourists who arrive at Velana International Airport and take a speedboat to Maafushi for US$ 10 or US$ 20, the expectations of guests who come to Fodhdhoo are much higher since they pay US$156 for a domestic flight in addition to the speedboat transfer, he noted.
"They [MTCC] cannot continue work because the materials aren't here. But still they would dig up sand that has washed away and put it back on land. There's not much to do because materials aren't here but they have to show they are doing work. They will do some work, take a photo of the site and leave."
According to the environment impact assessment report, the harbour would be developed by dredging up a basin of 22,646 square metres for a depth of 3.5 metres. An access channel would be opened up by dredging up 2,470 square metres to a depth of 4 metres.
When the projects launched, MTCC said it would include the construction of 165 metres of revetment and 145 metres of outer wall, a 130-metre by six-metre jetty, 600 square metres of pavement, and the installation of navigation and port lighting systems.
The EIA report identified the presence of high live coral cover during benthic surveys and advised that dredging activities should be conducted during calm weather conditions. It urged mitigation measures with the use of bunds and silt curtains.
"Certain types of negative impacts on the environment from such infrastructural developments are inevitable. Although this project will have unavoidable adverse environmental impacts, such as permanent habitat alteration of the direct project footprint, these negative effects are not so severe that the project should be terminated," it concluded.
The Maldives Independent was awaiting a response from the Environmental Regulatory Authority regarding the project and its impact on surrounding areas.
Fohdhoo, a 26-hectare island in Noonu atoll some 176 kilometres north of Malé, had a resident population of 345 at the 2022 census. Visitors reach it via domestic flights to nearby Maafaru airport followed by a speedboat transfer.
"They come here because of our beach and reef. What else do we have? We don't have nurse sharks or tiger sharks to sell. The only thing we have is the sandbank near here. To be honest, we are zero compared to Alif Alif or Vaavu atolls," said Abbas.
"All uninhabited islands have been given away. The only thing we have is the sandbank. And the only other thing we have is the reef surrounding the island. And a big part of that has been damaged because the project has been prolonged."
Discussion
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!
No comments yet. Be the first to join the conversation!
Join the Conversation
Sign in to share your thoughts under an alias and take part in the discussion. Independent journalism thrives on open, respectful debate — your voice matters.
Support Independent Journalism
Help us keep the news free and fearless
Give once
$
or
Become a memberfrom $5/month
