The Maldives tourist board has never failed to entice visitors. And, this time it comes to surprise golf enthusiasts with its new, slightly surreal addition – the world’s first floating golf course, designed by the combined efforts of Waterstudio NL, Dutch Docklands Company, and golf course developer Troon Golf.
According to Mark Prigg of The Daily Mail, the business venture resulted from the challenge the island nations face in climate change: “With an average elevation of just 5 feet above sea level the Maldives, with its 1,190 islands in the Indian Ocean, is the lowest country in the world. Amid fears many of the islands will soon sink into the sea, the Maldivian government has started a joint venture with the architectural firm Dutch Docklands International to build the world’s largest series of artificial floating-islands.”
It sounds unbelievable, but this is true. An exclusively green development in a marine-protected area right in the middle of the Indian Ocean, this innovative construction will have the largest series of private artificial floating islands, particularly 43 of them, which will be anchored to the seabed using cables or telescopic mooring piles to keep the structures stable throughout the worst of the ocean’s storms. The ‘floating masterplan’ will also include 185 beautiful water villas in the shape of a typical Maldivian flower, a star-shaped hotel with luxurious accommodations overlooking the green fairways and the surrounding wildlife-rich reef, a convention center, and 18 holes of golf, accessible from below by underwater tunnels. In addition, there will be a water desalination system, water cooling system and floating solar blanket fields.
The proposed area will just be five-minute ride from the airport and the city of Male – Maldives’s charming capital, giving golfers the chance to make quick journeys to the mainland.
The first part of the project to be built will be the golf course, which will be on floating platforms to minimize its impact on the surrounding ecosystem. The course will be within existing circular reefs, which will enable guests to dive right from the beach. Amazingly, the 18-hole golf course will be powered by solar energy which is a resource the Maldives has plenty of, as the island nation is located just north of the equator.
As to the islands, each will have its own jetty for yachts, along with a pool. The islands will be designed for swimmers and even pirate submarines to enter them from below. What more, visitors will also be able to rent private submarines that can surface in the middle of their living room.
‘The scar-less development, which has zero footprint on the Maldives region, will include state-of-the-art golf courses that look set to bring a wealth of new tourism and investment to the country,’ Bruce Glasco, managing director of Troon Golf, the course’s designer, said last year, announcing his company’s participation in the project. ‘In an ideal world, a development like this would be on land, but the world is changing,’ he said, adding ‘I just hope [the Maldives government] gets it right. If they do, this type of development could be a harbinger of things to come.’
The project will cost an estimated $520 million, and is expected to bring the island nation new wealth, investment and tourism.
Development on the golf course has already begun and will be ready for play by the end of 2013 ahead of the full launch in 2015. Environmentalists don’t worry! The designers claim the entire resort will be ‘carbon neutral.’
