Project to develop waste yard on southern side of Male

A project has been handed over to Thilafushi Corporation to reclaim land in the lagoon on the southern side of Male’ (Stadium area) to develop a waste yard, as part of the efforts to address the waste management problems currently faced by the people of Male’.

A ceremony was held this afternoon at Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure to sign the agreement. The agreement to reclaim 0.5 hectares of land to develop a waste yard was signed by Housing Minister Dr Mohamed Muizzu on behalf of the government, and Managing Director of Thilafushi Corporation Ilham Idhrees on behalf of Thilafushi Corporation.

After signing the agreement, Housing Minister Muizzu told reporters that the waste yard on the southern side of Male’ will be financed by Thilafushi Corporation and also implemented as a project of Thilafushi Corporation.

“This agreement is made between Thilafushi Corporation and the government. Thilafushi Corporation will finance the project to establish a permanent system to manage waste in Male’ through the reclamation of part of the lagoon on the southern side of Male’. The project will be implemented as a project of Thilafushi Corporation, and will also allow the Corporation to deal with workshops and warehouses in Male’,” he said.

He noted that waste management had become a serious problem in Male’. Dr Muizzu informed that this project was finalised through additional plans based on a detailed technical research report compiled by Japan International Corporation Agency (JAICA) about eight years ago.

He said that by the end of the project, workshops, garages and carpentry shops would have been transferred to the reclaimed area, resulting in not just a solution to the problem of waste management in Male’ but also to the problem of congestion.

MD of Thilafushi Corporation said that the project will commence in about one month from the agreement signing date, and that it will be completed in about eight months from then. He said that the estimated cost of the project is about MVR 87 million.

“The total cost of the project, the estimated cost value is about MVR 87 million. The first step would be to reclaim the land, which would cost about MVR 41 million. After that, the infrastructure development would cost MVR 46 million,” Ilham said.

He said that about 40 percent of the land of the waste yard will be used for waste incineration, while the remaining 60 percent will be used by the transferred workshops, garages and warehouses.

The Housing Minister also said that the new waste yard would solve the problem of the smell of waste material currently affecting Vilingili Ferry Terminal, IGMH, Hiriya School, Thaajuddin School and Imaaduddin School. He said that the people of Male’ would also benefit from the removal of the noise and dust coming from workshops, carpentry shops and garages.