Categories revealed for 7,000 social housing flats

Categories for awarding 7,000 flats under an ambitious social housing project have been revealed with applications due to open in two weeks.

Briefing the press on Sunday, Housing Minister Dr Mohamed Muizz said successful applicants will be chosen by August following an evaluation process, assuring that prices will be affordable.

• 1,000 flats for civil servants
• 1,000 flats for married couples aged 18 to 40
• 1,000 flats for Malé residents
• 1,044 flats for Malé residents under the municipality registry
• 625 flats for teachers
• 475 flats for doctors and nurses
• 400 flats for single mothers
• 300 flats each for the police and military
• 300 flats for those who made down-payments under the scrapped Gulhifalhu project and those unable to secure loans for flats built in Malé by a subsidiary of India’s Tata Group
• 256 flats for poor families from the Maafanu West constituency in the capital
• 200 flats for families with disabled persons

Providing housing for youth and newly-weds was a campaign pledge of President Abdulla Yameen, who aims to resettle 80,000 people in new apartment complexes in Hulhumalé, a reclaimed island near the capital being developed as an urban centre.

Contrary to previous assurances, Muizz said unsuccessful applicants for about 700 flats awarded last year would have to resubmit forms as information such as the number of children would have to be updated.

He did not take any questions from reporters.

Muizz revealed that a detailed survey was conducted to vacate 256 households from the western Maafanu district, which was inhabited in the 70s by Giraavaru islanders resettled on a reclaimed area of Malé.

Despite living in cramped and difficult conditions, most people were previously ineligible for government housing programmes, he said.

“We have decided to give a flat from Hulhumalé to each of those households. That is after vacating those homes,” he said, adding that the empty blocks would be redeveloped with parks and three 25-story towers.

The housing minister has been overseeing rapid changes to Malé’s landscape with a new artificial beach, road expansion and an industrial village.

Muiz noted that about 1,500 mid to high-range units are also under construction in Hulhumalé, from which 200 would be allocated for doctors.

Yameen’s administration plans to relocate and settle 70 percent of the country’s 338,000 population to the ‘Youth City.’ A Chinese-financed bridge connecting Malé with the airport island and Hulhumalé is expected to be complete this year.

We are happy to inform that we have successfully completed piling works of all 16 towers of the 7000 social housing units in Phase II, ahead of the schedule.#HDCMaldives #Hulhumalé #YouthCity pic.twitter.com/PwvisYu5pY

— HDC (@hdcmaldives) March 15, 2018