MDP President Abdulla Shahid has said that removing Savaaheli island from Addu City’s jurisdiction and placing it under the central government’s control was done without any consultation with the people of Addu City or the council they had elected, and that the government has stripped away a very significant right of the people of Addu City.

Savaaheli, an uninhabited island located opposite the Feydhoo Tourism Zone in Addu City, was removed from Addu City’s jurisdiction by a decree issued by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu on Wednesday night, at a time when the Addu City Council had already opened bidding to develop the island as a tourism project.

Expressing concern over the decision in a post on social media, Shahid said Savaaheli was taken out of Addu City’s jurisdiction and brought under central government control at the very moment the Addu City Council had announced the opening of bids to lease, develop, operate, and manage an entertainment and recreation facility on the island.

“This project is a promising initiative connected to the growth of employment opportunities for many young people, the advancement of tourism, and — particularly in Feydhoo, where the tourism zone lies directly opposite Savaaheli — the growth of guesthouse businesses and small and medium enterprises in the other islands of Addu as well,” Shahid said.

Shahid said that decisions about the future of the people of Addu City should not be made by people sitting in air-conditioned rooms in Malé, and that the right to shape their own future must belong to the people of that city.

Shahid called on the government to immediately hand Savaaheli — which is tied to the tourism future of Addu City — back to the people of the city.