Plans scrapped to change design of Hiyaa flats

In March, Housing Minister Aminath Athifa told parliament that the design would be revised to expand two-bedroom flats to three-bedroom flats. The 550-square feet two-bedroom flats were inadequate for families, she said.

Some 6,880 flats were to be built in 16 towers of 25 floors each in in the capital’s suburb, an artificial island connected to Malé via the Sinamalé bridge in September last year. An agreement was signed between the Housing Development Corporation – a state-owned company tasked with the urban development of the reclaimed land – and the China State Engineering Corporation in July 2016. Construction work began in December 2017.

The HDC previously estimated that changing the design would reduce the number of flats to 3,588. HDC managing director Suhail Ahmed told Mihaaru last week that the decision not to make changes was reached after consultations. Concerns included the lower number of units and the high cost of changing the design, he told the newspaper.