Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed, on Sunday, said bunkering service is scheduled to be launched at Ihavandhippolhu in July.  

Speaking at a ceremony held on Sunday to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between the Maldivian government and Dubai’s International Freezone Authority (IFZA) to develop the Maldives economic gateway planned for Ihavandhippolhu – Minister Saeed revealed that bunkering service will commence at Ihavandhippolhu in July under the agreement executed between State Trading Organization (STO) and Vitol, the biggest energy trader in the world.

Bunkering service is the supply of fuel to large sea vessels.

In an earlier interview, Saeed bunkering service will be implemented in two phases. The first phase, in this regard, is off-port bunkering as Maldives, a nation with vast sea territory, would not require to undertake infrastructure works related to the port. Meanwhile, the second phase would involve the construction of the port for related services.

Saeed has previously described Maldives as a nation ideally located for bunkering service as the nation is a popular sea lane contrary to Singapore and Sri Lanka which have similar setups.

Ihavandhippolhu sees high traffic of sea vessels. As a result, during former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom's administration, a project to develop a modern harbor in the atoll to profit from trade was announced.

The 'I-Heaven' project, included a port, an airport, bunkering service, real estate and tourist resorts. However, the project was never implemented. 

The former administration of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih also unsuccessfully attempted to commence the project to no avail.