The government has reversed its decision regarding the Gulhifalhu land plot agreements and has decided to move forward in accordance with the original terms.

An announcement released by the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure on Wednesday evening states that in order to expedite the handover of land plots allocated to recipients through the lottery held in Gulhifalhu on 30 May 2025, the ministry has decided to sign a revised new agreement between the ministry and the plot recipients.

This, the ministry announced, is to amend the clause related to the plot information provided under the current agreement, to include the new plot registry number, plot number, and location.

The ministry has now agreed that amending only the agreement signed with the Gulhifalhu plot recipients will not provide a complete solution to the entire issue, given that many plots allocated in Hulhumalé under the ‘Binveriyaa’ scheme for distributing government land plots in the Greater Malé Region (GMR) have already been handed over and construction work has begun.

The announcement noted that under the ‘Binveriyaa’ scheme, former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration had announced the allocation of plots from Hulhumalé, Gulhifalhu, and Giraavaru lagoon, signed agreements with recipients, and handed over registrations.

While these agreements were still in effect, the current administration of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu changed the Gulhifalhu Land Use Plan (LUP) and altered the locations of previously allocated plots.

Then, a new lottery was held, and plots were assigned from the new locations.

The housing ministry had announced that the previous government's agreement was nullified after making these changes.

The issue escalated when it was revealed that the ministry had secretly altered an important clause from the previous government's agreement while drafting the new agreement.

The "Rules for Allocating Government Land in the Malé Area under the ‘Binveriyaa’ scheme gazetted by the previous government on 26 June 2022, stated in Article 3(c) that applicants must not have a registered land or housing solution larger than 600 square feet in their name in name in the Greater Malé Region comprising of Malé, Hulhumalé and Villingili.

Article 3(d) stated that if an applicant has a government land less than 600 square feet registered in their name in GMR, they must agree to relinquish it according to these rules.

In the previous agreement made under these rules, Articles 2 and 3 stated that if the recipient had a government land less than 600 square feet in their name in GMR, they agreed to relinquish it to the joint owners without compensation, and that if the recipient was entitled to inherit a portion of a government land, they must relinquish that portion to other heirs or to the state if there were no other heirs.

However, in the new agreement, as seen in a copy obtained by this newspaper, Articles 2 and 3 have been changed from GMR to "any area of the Maldives."

With the change, if the plot recipient has a government land, private land, condominium, flat, or social housing provided by the government less than 600 square feet registered in their name in any part of the Maldives, they agree to relinquish it to the joint owners without compensation or to the state if there are no other joint owners.

Following this change by the government, many plot recipients from Gulhifalhu, as well as lawyers and members of the public, began criticizing and expressing their concerns. Initially, the government tried to defend the change, claiming that the previous arrangement conflicted with the Maldives Land Act.

As pressure mounted on the government, they finally decided to proceed with the previous agreement. They stated that to resolve issues in the agreement that conflict with the Maldives Land Act, the ministry is working on finding a comprehensive solution in consultation with the Attorney General's Office.