Male’, Maldives – Former Housing Minister and Progressive Party of Maldives’ (PPM) candidate for Mayor of Male’ in the upcoming local council elections, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has said that providing permanent housing to the residents of Male’ should be the main responsibility of the Mayor of Male’ City.
Muizzu said in a tweet yesterday that the Male’ Mayor must focus on providing housing and must see to it that the newly reclaimed areas in Gulhifalhu and Fushidhiggaru are specialized to provide land and apartments to the residents of Male’.
During Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s presidency, there were plans to start housing projects in Gulhifalhu. However, the new government has planned to build a trade harbor instead at the reclaimed land in Gulhifalhu.
Muizzu has previously expressed his disapproval of the project, saying that Hulhumale Phase II housing was sold to a few wealthy individuals and that the harbor project is adding insult to injury fo average Male’ citizens who were hoping for affordable housing. He said that it is not too late to halt the project and called onto the government to start a housing project instead.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has recently said that in 2021, the government’s main objective is to provide housing to Male’ residents and added that while these projects have been moving at a rather slow pace due to multiple reasons, the next two months will see the ground breaking of projects with a total of 3000 apartments.
Male’ City is currently one of the most congested and densely populated urban areas in the world, with a population density of 65,776 per kilometer, causing housing issues within the city to soar. Due to centralization policies adopted by previous regimes, over decades, the city has been equipped with education systems, health care systems, and a centralized government system far better than the rest of the country – something which recent governments, including the current administration vouches for.
