Govt unable to meet President’s deadline for Giraavaru Falhu reclamation

The government has pushed the deadline for completion of land reclamation works on Giraavaru Falhu to the end of May, despite President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu stating that the works would completely wrap up in April.

In a post on X on March 21, President Muizzu announced that reclamation works on Giraavaru Falhu would be done in April.

But Housing Minister Dr. Abdulla Muthalib, who was summoned to the Parliament on Wednesday morning, told lawmakers that only 98 out of 169 hectors of land have been reclaimed so far.

He said that reclamation works were expected to wrap up in the end of May.

“Total 169 hectors of land are being reclaimed at Giraavaru. The area currently being reclaimed is total 97 hectors. Work on reclaiming the rest of the area will be done by May 31,” he said.

Muthalib said the project was taken from Maldives Fund Management Corporation (MFMC) and reassigned to Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) because of reclamation works stalled.

The project is managed now by Marine Integrated Infrastructure Development (MIID) a subsidiary of MACL.

Changes have also been made to the number of plots being issued from Giraavaru Falhu.

According to the latest land use plan, total 4,072 plots are being issued from Giraavaru Falhu, after recipients of 1,360 plots applied to switch to Gulhi Falhu.

Thousands from Male’ were promised land from Giraavaru Falhu, Gulhifalhu and Hulhumale’ under the ‘Binveriya’ housing scheme rolled out by the administration of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

The project in Giraavaru had stalled at 54 hectors, before resuming again in January.

Back in March, President Muizzu had said that reclamation works would wrap up in April, and the handover of plots would begin in June. However, the reclamation works are now expected to last through May, causing a possible delay in the handover.