Malé, Maldives – The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) said that 280 flats of the ones built by the former administration, were lost due to a policy change brought to the distribution of units by the current administration.
Speaking at the Parliamentary Committee on National Development and Heritage, Managing Director of HDC Suhail Ahmed said that the previous administration decided for half of the ground floors of the Hiya flats to be used for commercial services and that 140 flats were to be given as commercial flats.
Managing Director Suhail said that however, the current administration said that such an amount for commercial activities with respect to the population is less. The government has now decided that flats will not be built on the ground floor at all. He said that this reduced the total number of flats by 280 decreasing the total below 7000 flats.
Defending the government decision, Suhail said that this decision however, was a required one. He noted that while a population of around 35,000 people is expected to live at the flats, close by shops and other commercial institutions providing necessary services is an absolute must. He said that this would be possible only with the decision taken by the government.
In addition to not giving away ground floor flats, the government has also decided not to give away one room units. The government was faced with major backlash following the decision.
