Haidar’s assurance: Bright days ahead for housing; groundwork laid this year

“The motto of the government we will establish – a government we will establish with the backing of the people – will be that housing is a right of every citizen. This administration will conclude its five-year term after ensuring that not a single citizen is without housing.”

This is a quote from the remarks made by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu during his first meeting with the public after entering the presidential race last year. The current administration was formed with Dr. Ali Haidar as the housing minister to shoulder a pledge of this extent.

As the current administration marks its one-year anniversary on Sunday, Minister Haidar affirmed that the Housing Ministry has commenced efforts to realize the pledge made by President Muizzu. However, he underscored that the current administration was facing various difficulties which are derived from the actions of the former MDP administration during the conclusion of its term.

Some of the difficulties he highlighted in this regard include the inadequate funds allocated in the state budget for projects slated for commencement this year and the failure to pay contractors in the projects that are already underway.

One of the biggest criticisms targeted towards the current administration is the delays in handing over land and flats awarded under the former administration’s ‘Binveriya’ and ‘Gedhoruvariya’ housing schemes. Minister Haidar attributed the delays to how the projects were implemented by the former administration. In this trajectory, the Minister said an inadequate number of land plots were awarded from Giraavarufalhu and Gulhifalhu while land plots were awarded from Hulhumale’ from locations falling on top of pipes and cables laid for utility services.

Despite these difficulties, Minister Haidar stressed that the current administration has handed over land plots from Hulhumale’, handed over registries for land plots from Gulhifalhu and Giraavarufalhu and undertaken all efforts possible with respect to the controversial ‘Gedhoruvariya’ scheme.

He noted that Housing Ministry had been banned from undertaking any work with respect to the flat list until February of this year as Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) probed the matter.

Issues noted by ACC following their investigation acceptance of applications and documents after the expiration of the deadline.

When Housing Ministry was tasked with taking a decision in the case, a special committee was formed to revise the flat list. While Saturday was provided as the latest deadline to publicize the reviewed list, the list went unpublished with works still ongoing. This has left the public questioning when exactly the recipients of the flats can be confirmed.

Minister Haidar assured that the Ministry was doing all it can despite these difficulties.

“We have not lost hope. We proceeded by focusing on things we can do even though we lacked the budget,” he added.

One of the most crucial works undertaken in this regard as peer the Minister is the efforts to amend some of the laws and regulations pertaining to housing. He cited the opposition MDP-dominated 19th parliamentary assembly as the first obstruction in the pursuit of this. However, he said works on the bills are presently proceeding with the new parliamentary assembly in place. 

Other successes the current administration has achieved, highlighted by the Minister are as follows:

• Reducing the rent of flats and row houses issued from islands under social housing schemes
• Reducing the rent of Hiyaa and Vinares flats
• Introduction of soft loan scheme offering loans at an interest rate not exceeding five percent for housing

“We have done many such things to provide easements for the public concerning their housing needs. Nevertheless, we were unable to commence any new projects due to budget contaminants. I expect the commencement of many new projects next year with the budget proposed by the president,” he said.

Minister Haidar stressed that despite discontent over the speed of the Ministry's works this year, he believes it has laid the groundwork for the provision of housing in the coming years.

He described the current administration’s efforts to develop 85,000 housing units and centralize development and population as works that will provide huge benefits and easements in the long-term.

“As I believe, the upcoming days are bright in terms of housing and increasing the standard of living in the Maldives,” he added.