It will have capacity for 20,000 residents and its prices will be affordable to attract the local population.
The rise in sea level is condemning the more than 1,200 islands of the Republic of Maldives to disappear. Time is short, and the more than 340,000 inhabitants of the country need a remedy to be able to face the consequences of climate change that shows no signs of slowing down its progress. And although it may seem contradictory, this solution has been found precisely in the sea. The floating city of Maldives it will be the first in the world in moving the population to the safest environment against climate change, the ocean.
The ambitious project has capacity to accommodate 20,000 residents on the islands, who will be able to acquire a new home of about 100 square meters, with a terrace, parking, jetty and, obviously, sea views. Under the name of Maldives Floating City (MFC), the new water residence will be built near the capital of the archipelago and its airport, on a series of hexagonal structures that will occupy 200 hectares of warm waters in the Indian Ocean, in the open sea but surrounded by atolls. These islands serve as a barrier and breakwater, allowing for less disturbance to these waters.
At first they will be just that, residential homes. But in the long term, the floating city will be equipped with all kinds of services, from shops, restaurants and hotels to schools, hospitals, among others. According to Dutch Docklands, the promoter of the project, each house will cost about 240,000 euros. The idea is that they are “affordable” homes. to get the widest spectrum of potential buyers and, above all, to arouse the interest of people to move there.
The project will begin construction next year, but has been on the minds of Maldivian leaders for more than a decade. The former president of the republic, Mohamed Nasheed, has been the main promoter of this initiative and has always been blunt with respect to the way of life of the population: “Our habits of life until now have been based on land occupation, and this It has had a very negative impact on our environment.”
For this reason, since 2009 the National Executive has been looking for alternatives so that Maldivians can live in their place of origin, despite the inclemencies of global warming. As the Minister of Tourism of the Republic, Abdulla Mausoom, recalls, Maldives is 99.6% water, so it is necessary to “find creative ways to live here.” The solution came from the hand of the Dutch company Dutch Docklands, who had experience in this type of houseboat, very common and successful in Holland. “At first, these aquatic homes were also viewed with some suspicion there, but over time they have gained a lot of popularity & rdquor ;, says the CEO of the company, Paul Van de Camp.
The promoters and governors ensure that everything is going according to the planned times. For this reason, after several years dreaming of this floating city, construction in the middle of the sea will begin in 2023. From then on, “It will be completed in phases over the next five years & rdquor ;, as the promoters explain in a press release.
The city that will rise above the water has also been presented as a project that respects the environment. According to Nasheed, the Maldivians must “live in the water or with the water, but without disturbing the environment & rdquor ;. This project follows that same philosophy. “In the Maldives we will not be able to stop the waves, but we will be able to rise with them”. The very hexagonal layout of the city is a form of adaptation to one of the most prolific communities in the country: corals.
The project ensures that with this floating city, the impact on corals will be minimal, which will allow preserving these basic organisms for marine life. At the same time, this way of living in a more sustainable way with nature allows the impacts on marine fauna to be kept at bay. And it is that in the waters of the Maldives there are also 1,100 different types of fish, five species of sea turtles, 21 cetaceans, 400 molluscs and 83 echinoderms. Hence the determination of its leaders to protect the natural paradise that surrounds them.
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