Rasgefaru Council An island of one thousand three hundred people and fourteen guesthouses, and the arrangements that keep both working
Rasgefaru island council

A small island with visitors on it, and rules we wrote together

Guesthouse registration and the monthly bed return, the visitor beach arrangement, where excursion boats may moor, the collection days, and the desk that handles each of them. Written for residents first, and for the businesses that employ a third of them.

Ask the office What each desk does

Two audiences, one island

Seven years ago this island had one guesthouse. It now has fourteen, with about two hundred and ten beds between them, and roughly one household in three has somebody working in one.

That is a good thing and it is not a simple one. Visitors bring work and they also bring boats at the jetty, waste in numbers the old round was never built for, water off a plant sized for a thousand people, and questions about what is appropriate on a street where people live.

The council's answer has been to write things down in public rather than to leave them to be settled house by house. The arrangements on this site were each agreed at an open meeting with residents and operators in the same room, and every one of them can be raised again the same way.

The desks

What the office handles

Eight services. Which ones apply to a household, which to a guesthouse, and what each costs.

Guesthouse registration and the monthly bed return

Register with the council before opening, and send the bed and staff return by the fifth of each month.

Read more

Waste collection: households and businesses

Fifty rufiyaa a month per household. Guesthouses pay by the bed and the rate follows the monthly return.

Read more

The visitor beach on the east side

Screened, with changing rooms, showers and shade. Its own arrangement about dress, and nobody minds what you wear there.

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The jetty, moorings and excursion boats

Where the ferry, the speedboats, the dive boats and the excursion dhonis each go, and what a mooring costs.

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Noise, night hours and the neighbour streets

Music off outdoors at eleven, nothing on the beach after eleven, and how a complaint is handled.

Read more

Water, the plant and the high season

What the plant can make, why the council publishes the daily figure, and what happens in February.

Read more
See every desk
The four arrangements visitors are told about

What every guesthouse is asked to pass on

The visitor beach is on the east side

Screened, with changing rooms and fresh water, and its own arrangement about dress. Everywhere else on the island is a village street.

Dress in the village

Shoulders and knees covered on the roads, the jetty and at the shops. Guesthouses are given a printed card for their rooms in four languages.

Quiet from eleven at night

Music off outdoors, boats not loading, and nothing on the beach after eleven. Houses here sit against the guesthouses on three streets.

Beaches are cleaned by a rota

Each guesthouse takes the stretch in front of it, the council takes the public beach and the harbour side, and the school does one Saturday a term.

The island, in numbers the office keeps

1,340
People on the island register
14
Registered guesthouses
210
Beds, at the last return
31%
Households with somebody working in one
Built and paid for

What the council has finished

The visitor beach, the excursion boat moorings and the second water tank. What each cost and what it settled.

The visitor beach, the screen and the changing rooms
Rasgefaru Council 2024

The visitor beach, the screen and the changing rooms

Two hundred metres screened and serviced on the east side, a third of it paid for by the guesthouses, and the argument it ended.
Eight moorings off the north side
Rasgefaru Council 2025

Eight moorings off the north side

Excursion and dive boats moved off the jetty, which gave the ferry its face back and the ambulance boat a corner nobody parks in.
The second water tank and the daily board
Rasgefaru Council 2023

The second water tank and the daily board

A day and a half of reserve instead of half a day, and the figure written on a board every morning where everybody can see it.
See the projects
From residents and operators

What people tell us

I complained about music at midnight three seasons ago and somebody rang the guesthouse that night, not the following week. The street is quiet now. I did not expect the council to be that quick.

A Aminath Shazuna Resident, Midhili Magu, Rasgefaru

The council charges us by the bed and follows our own monthly return, so a quiet September costs us less. We asked for that and they agreed it at a meeting. It is the fairest arrangement I know of.

H Hassan Mueen Guesthouse operator, Rasgefaru

I was against the moorings because I liked being on the jetty. Two seasons on, I can load in ten minutes without waiting for the ferry, and the ambulance boat corner has never been blocked since.

I Ibrahim Rasheed Excursion boat owner, Rasgefaru
For guesthouses

Registration, the bed return and the business rate

Do I have to register with the council as well?

Yes. Every guesthouse on the island is on the council's own local register, in addition to whatever licensing it holds nationally, which we note and do not assess.

It is free, it takes twenty minutes at the counter, and it exists for three practical reasons: your waste rate, the water planning, and having a number to ring at two in the morning. The council does not grant or refuse a licence to operate. That is not ours to give.

What is the monthly bed return, and what happens if I miss it?

Beds occupied, nights sold and staff living on the island, due on the fifth. It can be a message, a note at the counter or a word at the jetty desk, and it takes two minutes.

It sets your waste rate for the month, so a quiet month costs less. A return that has not arrived by the tenth is chased once. Three months with no returns and the council charges at your full registered bed count until they start again.

What are we expected to tell guests?

Four things, and the council prints the cards. The visitor beach is on the east side and has its own arrangement about dress. Shoulders and knees are covered everywhere else, including the roads, the jetty and the shops. Outdoor music stops at eleven and nothing happens on the beach after eleven. And alcohol is not sold or permitted anywhere on this island.

Cards are free, come in four languages, and there are more at the office whenever you run out.

Where can our excursion boat wait?

On one of the eight moorings off the north side, not on the jetty. Two hundred rufiyaa a month for a boat registered to this island, four hundred for one that is not, paid at the office. Six of the eight are taken and the list is at the counter.

Coming alongside to pick up and set down is fine and should take ten minutes rather than an hour. The corner nearest the ramp is kept clear for the ambulance boat at all times.

The monthly bed return is due on the fifth

Beds occupied, nights sold and staff on the island. Two minutes at the counter or by message, and it sets the waste rate and the water planning for the month.

Send the return Ring the office
Report, ask or complain

Write to the office

Noise after eleven, a boat on the wrong mooring, a missed collection, a light out on the jetty path. Every message gets a reference number and an answer within five working days.

We reply to every message. Leave a phone number if you would rather we called.

  • Where we are Council Office
    Midhili Magu, Rasgefaru
    Maldives
  • Call us +960 654 8802
  • WhatsApp 9607548802
  • Email us office@rasgefaru.mv
  • Opening hours Office: Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 2pm Visitor desk at the jetty: every day, 8am to 6pm Payments counter: Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 1pm Closed Friday and Saturday