Thousand flats pledged for civil servants

The government has pledged 1,000 flats to civil servants out of the 7,000 flats to be built in a social housing scheme in Hulhumalé.

Housing ministry spokesman Ahmed Fazal said the flats would be reserved for those working in the Greater Malé region. There are around 24,000 civil servants in the Maldives with the majority working in the capital.

The civil servants will be divided into three categories: managerial and technical level staff, support level staff and administrative staff.

While 400 flats will be given to support level staff, the remaining categories will each receive 300. The more employees a government ministry or department has, the greater the allocation.

A point system will be revealed at a later date to determine who will get the flats, Fazal said. He also said the price of the flat would be released later.

Meanwhile, the government again announced the sale of 19 plots of land in Malé at a discounted rate after nobody applied to take part in the bidding. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party had warned of undoing the sales once in power.

In August, last year the president’s office revealed that President Abdulla Yameen had decided to distribute 1,500 flats to professionals working in the government.

However, the housing ministry was unable to confirm whether the 1,000 flats pledged to civil servants was part of last year’s pledge by the president.

In February the government announced plans to offer temporary housing to police officers.

Last year Saudi Arabia pledged US$50 million to build flats for the military. In 2013 former president Mohamed Waheed’s government also announced plans to build flats for the military.