Monday, February 4, 2008

An Unloved New Island in Maldives


A group of Maldivians disembark from a ferry at Hulhumale jetty, Hulhumale, Maldives, Friday, Jan. 11, 2008. With a desperately overcrowded capital hemmed in on an island, the Maldives thought it had a can't-miss solution: build another island. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)


Running out of space in its crowded capital, this republic of 1,200 islands thought it had a can't-miss solution: build another island.

Planners weren't discouraged when people started eating the freshly planted palm saplings, or called the new island an ugly misfit among the picture-perfect beaches of their Indian Ocean archipelago. One day, they told themselves, the new island called Hulhumale would have it all: leafy streets, an artificial beach, a marina for megayachts, a luxury hotel and an entertainment strip. [Read More from ABC News]

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