Minister of Housing, Land and Urban Development Dr. Ali Haidar Ahmed’s recent remarks have confirmed that the incumbent administration has backtracked on its promise to not take back the flats allocated to beneficiaries, as part of the housing scheme launched during the former administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, promising 4,000 flats from Hulhumalé Phase II.
Haidar responded to questions from members of the People’s Majlis Petition Committee on a petition filed against revoking the list of flat recipients under the housing scheme, from the gazetted list of flat beneficiaries announced by the former administration.
Dr. Mohamed Muizzu as a presidential candidate back then had promised to act accordingly and not take back any of the allocated flats.
Confirming that the incumbent administration does not plan to follow through with this promise, Haidar stated that the incumbent administration plans on cancelling the list, reviewing it and publicizing a new list later this year.
Committee members highlighted that Muizzu had frequently claimed during the presidential election, that he would not take back flats from any beneficiary given a written document confirming that they have been given a flat under the “Gedhoruverin” housing scheme.
Although the lawmakers repeatedly mentioned Muizzu’s pledge during the presidential election that he would not take back the flats from anyone who had been given the document by the state, this did not seem to bother the minister at all.
Instead, the minister kept touching upon the statements Muizzu made during the ‘Ahaa’ programme launched by the incumbent administration, regarding the flat beneficiaries.
Haidar stated that therefore, there is no association between what the president has said and what the relevant authorities are currently doing.
MP for Velidhoo constituency Mohammed Abbas had asserted that he believes documents that have the government’s stamp confirming that a beneficiary has indeed received a flat, should be valid.
MP Abbas stressed that not respecting a document given by the state could lead to the possibility of seeking compensation by presenting the same document, in accordance with the law.
Minister Haidar has made these remarks in the petition committee at a time Muizzu had said in front of hundreds of people during his presidential campaign, that neither a flat allocated to a citizen nor a plot of land would be taken back under his presidency, whether it was wrong or under a failed policy.
Muizzu had repeatedly assured the citizens that the government would not revoke anything that has given any hope to a citizen under a housing initiative.
It is clear from the statement made by the housing minister at the Petition Committee meeting, that the view of the government regarding the allocation of flats, has changed and that the list of people who had previously been allotted flats during the presidential election has been cancelled and the list is being re-evaluated.
Stating that the government is planning to conduct a re-evaluation, Haidar said that getting more points by sharing living conditions of eligible recipients, is “misleading”.
He further said that the path was paved for fraud because they were “allowed” to do so.
Hence, the minister noted that if there is a need to reassess the living conditions, the ministry would do the needful based on the available information.
The minister’s speech has rendered the recently compiled report by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), completely useless.
When questioned by lawmakers, Minister Haidar failed to clarify whether the 825 people that have been confirmed to have met the criteria as per the ACC report, would be receiving their flats.
The incumbent administration plans to re-evaluate the list and prepare a new list of people who will get flats and gazette them, without including the personal information of the beneficiaries.
The incumbent administration has planned to act in a completely different way from what Muizzu has pledged in the past regarding the 4,000 flats.
With this, the government has decided to re-evaluate the list and identify those who get 4,000 flats.
Haidar noted that the revised list will be publicized in October 2024.
This means that the study conducted by the ACC and the efforts made by the committees established to provide recommendations regarding the matter of flat beneficiaries, have all gone down the drain.
Yet another one bites the dust with the Muizzu administration and it is yet to complete a single year since coming into power.
Due to the government's failure to follow through with the promise and handover the allocated plots of land as part of the "Binveriyaa" scheme, several residents of the capital city have been flooding social media platforms with concern.
There was a recent protest hosted by Malé residents who have been promised plots of land, over the massive delay in handing over their land plots, months after they were handed over the relevant documents confirming that the plots of land are under their name.
