The government is to reclaim more land in Hulhumalé, for the allocation of plots of land for housing purpose.

This was revealed by the Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Mohamed Aslam during a press conference held on Tuesday, to provide information on the issuance of plots of land under the ‘Binveriyaa’ housing scheme.

Minister Aslam noted that plots of land to be issued from the Greater Malé Region will be from Giraavaru, Gulhifalhu and Hulhumalé.

As such, noting that the work to reclaim Giraavaru is currently ongoing, Minister Aslam stated that the dredger has been mobilized and work to reclaim Gulhifalhu will kick off in early July.

Further, additional land from Hulhumalé Phase II will also be reclaimed, according to the minister.

With the successful reclamation of additional land in Hulhumalé, the government will be issuing 1,500 plots of land.

Aslam noted that the sites where the land will be reclaimed have now been mapped out and that they will be issuing land currently available.

The temporary list of recipients of the plots of land issued by the government, was publicized in the gazette on Tuesday.

A total of 5,000 plots of land are to be allotted this time, under the Gedhoruveriyaa program, under which the president earlier pledged to provide at least 2,000 plots of land to the residents of the congested capital city.

This includes 1,000 plots of land from Hulhumalé and 2,000 from Gulhifalhu.

The government will also be issuing at least 2,000 plots of land after reclaiming the Giraavaru lagoon.

The government had received a total of 15,164 applications by the time deadline for applications rolled around. These include 12,794 applications that met the criteria, which makes up 19,858 individuals.

According to the list, 10,314 individuals will receive plots of land, with the remaining 9,544 individuals also set to receive plots of land.

Individuals may submit complaints regarding the list, until July 15.

During his presidential address in 2022, President Solih announced that a solution will be provided for those in desperate need of housing in the capital city, by the time his presidential term ends.

During his fifth presidential address delivered this year, President Solih also announced the decision to increase the plots of land to be issued from GMR for housing.

Referring to his fourth presidential address delivered at the parliament on 3 February 2022, President Solih said that the government does not wish to deceive the people in its endeavor to meet the pledges.

A confident president had then revealed that the recipients of housing units will be handed their owner-ship letters by the end of June 2023.