Herathera Island, Maldives: News has just emerged that the Thai residential property developer, Amari Estates Company, has won the lease management contract for Herathera Island Resort in the south Maldives.

The four star resort is surrounded by a lagoon and has long, white, sandy beaches. It is the only resort on the island of Herathera and guests arrive via a twenty minute speedboat ride from Gan International Airport in the Madives.

Company president and chief executive officer Yuthachai Charanachitt said refurbishing and rebranding the resort would cost over 100 million baht (US $3.31 million) but he refused to reveal the bid price until the company signs an official agreement on January 15^th 2011.

“Turnover is expected to exceed ten billion baht (US$331.4 million), from an estimate of about one billion baht (US$33.1 million) currently.  We are a mixed-used property developer, including hotels, condominiums, and fully furnished serviced apartments,” commented Yuthachai.

The Herathera Island Resort forms part of Amari Estates’ expansion plans in Asia. Future projects include the development of a three star, two hundred room hotel, under the Ozo brand name, in Koh Samui, Thailand.

The resort, worth six hundred million baht (US$19.8 million), is due to start construction next year with completion scheduled for 2012.

This year, Amari Estates will invest in three other properties in Thailand with a total project value of almost 5 billion baht (US$166 million); Oriental Residence in Bangkok, Amari Residences Hua Hin and Amari Hua Hin.