State appeals to enforce order against Strada

State has appealed on the Civil Court to carry out its order on Strada Private Limited, parent company of waterfront restaurant Newport View, to vacate the plot.

The Ministry of National Planning and Infrastructure via a statement on Monday, highlighted the Strada had failed to follow through the Civil Court order which was issued on 26 September.

While the state has ordered Civil Court to implement their order, Strada had on 28 September, decided to appeal Civil Court’s order to hand the plot over to the government along with a fine of MVR 1.1 million, at the High Court.

Strada had announced that the plot was taken from them against Article 40 (b) of Maldives Constitution which states that “private property shall be inviolable, and may only be compulsorily acquired by the State for the public good, as expressly prescribed by law, and as authorized by order of the court. Fair and adequate compensation shall be paid in all cases, as determined by the court.”

Highlighting that the company had invested in the bridge viewing platform to open an indoor play area for children, futsal grounds, global franchises Chatime and Newport, Strada said that they had to vacate the plot in which Chatime was stationed as the government had ordered to do so, to develop the ring road. The government failed to reimburse the company’s losses, revealed Strada through a statement.

Further, it said that the reimbursement owed to it by the state totals a bigger amount than what it owes to the state and that the corruption watchdog had ordered the government to halt reimbursing Strada.

Opened on 6 February with a 500-person capacity, Newport is run by former council member of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Zahid Rameez’s spouse Malaka Abdul Hakeem.

With a monthly rent of MVR 100,000, the 10,000 square-foot property was leased for eight years to Strada Private Limited during the administration of Abdulla Yameen, in 2016.

Strada was ordered to vacate the property after having failed to pay the monthly rent for three months, in March. In April, the government filed suit against Strada to recover the lease payments and vacate the property at the Civil Court.

While Strada owed MVR 1,149,271 in lease and fines to the Ministry of National Planning and Infrastructure, the company had also filed a case against the state, seeking compensation for the government’s order to vacate its property.