“Housing documents likely destroyed, 2025 looms as a frightening year”

The public protesting regarding the flats and land plots controversy have said that with the way the incumbent administration is handling things, it is suspected that the government has intentionally destroyed documents related to housing.

At a gathering held at Bondibai Park on Friday night, members of the public heavily criticized the government. The public said that the actions of the incumbent regarding the flat and land issue show that President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's administration is not making sincere efforts to resolve the issue. Noting that 2025 looms as a frightening year, the public accused the incumbent of manipulating housing-related work from within the government.

On December 13, the block where the fire first broke out, which houses the Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development, is a block where many government offices are located. Among the places scorched due to the massive fire are the housing ministry, Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure, the now-defunct Maldives Land and Survey Authority section, and an important office of the Malé City Council. The public said that when investigating the several acts of corruption carried out by multiple governments related to the burned ministries, there is now no certainty that those documents will be available, and that there is now room to believe the fire was a deliberate arson.

The public said that independent institutions are not working to secure their rights and that institutions and agencies have spiraled into corruption.

In addition to this, the public criticized the issue of Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed's brother, the former Managing Director of Housing Development Corporation (HDC), Mohamed Fazeel Rasheed, the Deputy Managing Director of Malé Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC), being unfairly allocated a plot of land. Following the surfacing of an issue where plots of land were allocated against regulations under the ‘Binveriyaa’ scheme earlier, HDC abruptly held a press conference on Wednesday night where former Fazul tried desperately to defend the matter. The public said that the way the incumbent is handling things shows that the government does not consider the people’s rights at all.

At Friday's protest, the protesters said they do not believe that the corruption carried out through HDC ends just with HDC. The protesters described it as crimes planned and executed from within the government. Likewise, the public has also criticized the supposed allocation of plots and flats to senior government officials and lawmakers representing the main-ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), against regulations. The protesters claimed that they will not stand by and watch as their rights are being violated.

The protesters stressed that they will further intensify the protests regarding the land and flat issue in the coming days.