Battle over Binveriya: the exclusive land scheme tearing Maldivians apart

In its signature policy to resolve the congested capital's housing crisis, the previous administration's Binveriya scheme promised 9,003 land plots from both Hulhumalé and other manmade islands to be reclaimed from the Gulhifalhu and Giraavaru lagoons. Only native residents of Malé – who were never registered to a "permanent address" on any other island and did not own or stand to inherit 600 or more square feet – were eligible to apply. More than 23,000 people submitted 15,164 applications (including joint submissions from siblings and family members), and 19,631 people were selected as recipients.

When it was announced in 2022, the scheme's restriction to native-born residents sparked fierce debates on social media. Critics argued that excluding migrants – more than 100,000 non-native residents from other islands, most of whom pay exorbitant rents to access healthcare, education and employment unavailable elsewhere – was discriminatory and unconstitutional. 

Debating a housing resolution in parliament, Falah called the scheme "the biggest loss caused to the state, to the Maldivian people," estimating the cost of handing out plots from Hulhumalé Phase 2 – "very expensive land reclaimed from the Maldivian state's tax money" – to be MVR 13 billion (US$ 843 million).

He questioned the fairness of bestowing prime real estate valued at MVR 12 million for free. 

"One person is awarded a flat for money. A massive, 1,200-square-feet plot is awarded for free. What kind of fairness is this?" the parliamentary group leader of the ruling People's National Congress asked. "We're talking about giving MVR 12 million for free to one person, while giving [a flat worth] MVR 3 million to the other person for payments to be made over 20 years." 

The free plots should be seized by the state after providing compensation for any construction work, Falah suggested, stressing that he was expressing a personal view and not speaking as the leader of the PNC's supermajority. 

"Even today, 99 percent of the Maldivian people will support this," he contended. 

But the proposal prompted opposition from within the ruling party. As the first to speak when the debate resumed last Wednesday, PNC MP Ahmed Zameer, who represents the Central Machchangoalhi constituency in Malé, repeated President Dr Mohamed Muizzu's assurance to honour the land title deeds or registration documents handed out by his predecessor.

Zameer said "land from Malé is also my right" as he would only inherit 260 square feet from his parents. Angered by Falah's remarks on the previous day, many of his constituents had called and asked why he was "not advocating on behalf of the people of Malé," the MP revealed.

"I told them, despite what the PG leader said, I also know that the government reclaims land on islands in the atolls by taking loans, too. But plots are awarded for free from there as well," he noted.

On some islands, a 3,000-square-feet plot is carved out and gifted to residents upon reaching adulthood, regardless of their inheritance from the family home, Zameer claimed. The same person is eligible for social housing in the Greater Malé Region based on 15 years of residency in the capital, he added.

"After making guesthouses on these plots and renting it out, they're coming and getting flats in Malé," he said, claiming that the majority of applicants for 4,000 apartments built in Hulhumalé under the Gedhoruveriya sister scheme were not native residents of Malé.

"We Malé people aren't saying, 'don't give them flats.' We're saying, 'give them flats. Give them to people on the dhaftaru [special municipality registry] as well.' But the people of Malé are deserving of their plots from Malé, however it is given." 

Zameer was echoing the common refrain from proponents and beneficiaries of the Binveriya scheme in the face of the outcry during the Maldivian Democratic Party government. 

Addressing criticism at the time, former housing minister Mohamed Aslam had said that the scheme was devised to offer “breathing space” for native residents of Malé, many of whom live in slum-like conditions after the division of inherited land into smaller plots. 

The rare public disagreement between ruling party lawmakers opened the floodgates for long-simmering grievances on both sides of the Malé-Raajjethere or Atholhuthere (misnomers that refer to the rest of the country) divide.

On Monday morning, former housing minister Aslam – a principal architect of the Binveriya scheme – doubled down in defence of the MDP government's housing policy:

The post, directed at critics who questioned awarding free land to Malé natives while state-owned land is handed out on other islands, drew scores of angry responses. Many pointed out the the chasm in valuation between land from the Greater Malé Region and rural islands. 

For migrants who have spent decades in the capital, the exclusion was deeply personal. "I've paid MVR 1,680,000 on housing the past five years for an apartment that won't be mine," one person wrote. "This is the RT [raajjethere] tax that people who're predominantly not from Malé pay to Malé landlords."

Another described the paradox of belonging nowhere: "My parents left Fuvahmulah in the 80s and moved to Malé. I was born and raised here, but I'm not eligible for housing in Malé or in Fuvahmulah because I don't live there. So where do I belong? That's how a broken system creates second-class citizens."

The core grievance, repeated across dozens of posts, was that forced migration – not choice – brought families to Malé. 

Defenders of the scheme pushed back against what they called mischaracterisation of Malé residents' wealth. Several pointed out that many landowners must surrender up to 80 percent of their buildings to construction companies or banks for decades to finance development. "Not all buildings are owned by the Malé meeha," one person wrote, urging critics to "listen to Malé people who are suffering."

Others saw it as a matter of inheritance anxiety: "A person with a land in Malé with five floors is worried about five children left with only one floor each. A person with an apartment is worried about all children's sharing one apartment. A person without any is worried about owing an apartment for children."

The discourse extended to whether free distribution was sensible or viable at all in a small island nation with acute land scarcity. Midhuam Saud, a public commentator and founder of The Commoners NGO that advocates for the rights of tenants, reframed the controversy around basic math:

The scheme gave away nearly 90 percent of Hulhumalé's last remaining land to 1,500 families. The same land could have been used to build 30,000 apartments for a capital city with demand for 40,000 units, Midhuam argued. Faced with the choice of keeping the land under state ownership and developing affordable housing for 30,000 families, or handing it out to native Malé families as private property, "they chose the latter."

He added: "And if you can't see what's wrong with that, I honestly don't know how else to explain it."

Former Attorney General Dhiyana Saeed took the critique further. Even if free land distribution was acceptable, she argued that "creating land rights over a particular area on the basis of 'right of blood' is wrong; if a nexus to the land is required, the proper basis should be the period of residence."

The Binveriya scheme "breaches multiple fundamental rights, is discriminatory across a huge swathe of the population, perpetuates historical inequalities and creates new ones."

A data analysis comparing land allocation regulations revealed that while 100 percent of islands allowed any Maldivian to apply for free land in 2019, by 2025 only 71 percent maintained that openness. "But Binveriyaa?" the analyst noted. "It excluded thousands by design – banning anyone outside Malé."

A former judge countered that most islands employ point systems that effectively exclude outsiders, giving 25 additional points to those with permanent addresses registered "from birth." The result is that "if you have your permanent address elsewhere, you will not get 25 points and will be pushed down list and will not have a realistic chance of getting a free plot of land."

Despite the disagreements over diagnosis, there was some convergence on solutions. Of the proposed fixes, the one gaining the most traction appeared to be abolishing the system of permanent address, the practice whereby a person's place of registration upon birth determines voting rights and eligibility for services irrespective of their island of actual residency.

Fayyaz Ismail, the MDP's chairman, signalled openness to reform, conceding that the "status quo cannot be maintained." However, the proposed abolition of permanent addresses would "need careful consideration," he stressed.

"I believe a sensible solution more in tune with modern times can be achieved whilst tackling any negative issues of such a change," he wrote.

Others rejected free land distribution entirely.

"Land is a limited resource. No one deserves land. Implement social housing and/or simply move the administrative capital somewhere else. Pour resources [on] other regions too, I'm begging anyone who'd listen, please. This is not the republic of Malé."