Protestors gather outside Housing Ministry as frustration mounts over continued hitches in flat handover

At least a dozen protestors gathered outside the Housing Ministry on Thursday, amid mounting frustration over delays in the handover of 4,000 flats built under the ‘Gedhoruveriya’ housing scheme.

The Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation (FDC) has developed 4,000 flats in Hulhumale’ Phase II - the first of housing units built under the ‘Gedhoruveriya’ scheme, a social housing project launched by the former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration.

The FDC initiated the process of the signing of agreements with the recipients of the flats on July 21, before suspending the process earlier this week after it uncovered discrepancies in one of the lists of recipients sent by the Housing Ministry.

As per the original policy publicized by the former administration, three-bedroom flats were supposed to be allocated first to eligible applicants who scored 76 points and above, and then a draw held to allocate the remaining units among applicants who scored 75 points.

But the Housing Ministry said that it has uncovered that draws were held to allocate flats to 315 applicants who scored 75 points, before allocating flats to 301 applicants who had scored 76 points and above.

A crowd of protesters began gathering at Dharubaaruge, where the Housing Ministry is currently running out of, at around 11:00 am Thursday.

According to the protestors, they had all already signed agreements for the flats, but received a message from the Housing Ministry saying that it is unable to establish that they have lived in Male’ for the last 15 years – a key eligibility requirement for the flats. The ministry said in the message that it was therefore under review, and asked them to submit information to prove their residency.

The police barred the protesters from entering the premises.

The protesters gathered outside the Housing Ministry also expressed frustration over the continued delay in handover of the flats, especially with being told their applications were under review once again after the agreement was already signed.

“This is not how the government should be treating us. One day they say we are getting it. The next they say we aren’t getting it. The people are just expected to live in uncertainty. They should be more responsible than this,” said one frustrated protestor.

The Housing Ministry asked the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for a criminal investigation into the early allocation of flats on Wednesday, which the ministry said it believes was a deliberate decision to benefit a specific group of individuals and cause harm to specific individuals, and a move that damages the interests of all applicants.

Earlier this week, former state minister for housing Akram Kamaluddin, who had headed MDP administration’s housing initiatives, said that the applicants who scored 76 points but weren’t allocated flats are married couples, who were eligible for flats in their own right.

He said that according to the original policy, married couples were supposed to be allocated one flat that both spouses must share.

He said that the former administration had reserved a flat for each such married couple, and accused the incumbent administration of misleading the public.

The list of recipients of the flats, which was released during the last days of the MDP administration, was also the subject of an investigation by the ACC. The corruption watchdog ordered for the suspension of the issuance of flats, before finally giving the Housing Ministry the go-ahead to proceed in February 2024.

The incumbent administration released a new list of recipients after a verification process that lasted a year in February. But following public backlash over high number of disqualifications, decided that the flats would be issued based on the original list.