Minister: Govt. to open applications for Thinadhoo flats separately

Housing Minister Dr. Abdulla Muthalib, citing Thinadhoo City Council has not revoked its announcement opening applications for 200 housing units being developed in the city, states the Ministry will publish a separate announcement accordingly.

Thinadhoo City Council published an announcement opening applications for 200 housing units being developed in the city on January 28^th. Housing Ministry, citing that the announcement was published without approval, instructed the Council to revoke the announcement on February 1^st.

However, the Council has not revoked the announcement to date.

North Thinadhoo MP Saudhulla Hilmy questioned Minister Muthalib regarding the announcement during Monday’s parliamentary sitting.

In response, Minister Muthalib said Thinadhoo Council’s announcement seeking applications for the housing units in city was published without any prior discussion with the government even though the project is being implemented by the government.

The Minister detailed that he wrote a letter to the Council, instructing to revoke the announcement and handle the matter in coordination with the government. However, since the Council continued with the process, the Ministry again, instructed to cease the work. According to the Minister, the Council was also instructed to cease the work through the Local Government Authority (LGA).

Minister Muthalib said the Council was instructed to revoke the announcement as the government believes it is important that beneficiaries of housing units developed by the government are decided by the government itself in line with established policies.

He added that applications for these units will be opened through the 'Hiyaa Vehi' portal, and the Ministry is currently working to facilitate this process.

Thinadhoo Council is subject of several other issues at present as well.  

One such issue concerns Thinadhoo’s designation as a city, amid allegations that its actual population falls below the legal threshold of 10,000 required for city status. These claims arise from discrepancies between population figures maintained by the Thinadhoo Council and the Department of National Registration (DNR), with the Council reporting a population of 10,150, while the DNR lists it as 7,924.

Notably, a police team was deployed to the city in April to investigate the matter.

A case has also been filed with Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) accusing Thinadhoo City Mayor Saud Ali of committing an act of corruption in the construction of a monument at the city’s harbor.

ACC raided the Council office as part of the investigation – a move which the council described as “looting”. The corruption watchdog has accused the Council of failing to cooperate with their investigation.