Minister Heena accused of lying after claiming lack of quality lime is delaying Minaret's renovation and cleaning
Despite Heritage Minister Heena Waleed’s claim that the restoration of the Malé Friday Mosque’s minaret is stalled due to a lack of high-quality lime, the former head of heritage, Nazim, has countered that significant quantities of lime remain in the department's warehouse. Amid growing public criticism over the minaret’s deteriorating condition and moss buildup, Nazim emphasized that suitable lime is readily available from the northern islands of the Maldives, asserting that the failure to maintain the historic landmark is not due to a shortage of materials.
The Minaret of the Malé Friday Mosque | RaajjeMV
Despite claims by the Minister of Arts, Culture, and Heritage, Heena Waleed, that the renovation and cleaning of the Malé Friday Mosque minaret have been delayed due to a lack of high-quality lime, these assertions have been proven false.
Responding to a question from Milandhoo MP Hassan Mufeed during Wednesday's parliamentary session, Heena stated that the liming and maintenance of the Friday Mosque’s minaret must be conducted within specific timeframes, noting that seasonal weather conditions also present significant challenges. She further highlighted that the primary obstacle in maintaining the minaret is the difficulty in sourcing high-quality lime.
Regarding this issue, Mohamed Nazim—who served as a Senior Executive Director at the Ministry during former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration and was in charge of Male’s heritage sites—spoke to the "Fashaairu" program on Sunday. He dismissed the claims that lime is unavailable for the restoration of the minaret as false. He further stated that 2,000 sacks of lime are currently stored in the Academy’s warehouse.
Nazim stated that four kilns of lime remained even as the government transition took place.
"That is another blatant falsehood. It has become a noticeable pattern that every official from the Heritage Ministry who appears before Parliament resorts to spreading misinformation. The current Minister has now done the same. During our administration, we applied lime wash to the minaret on three separate occasions. We used traditional Maldivian lime, which is readily available from the northern islands. We can prove that lime was used, as the work was carried out by STELCO. STELCO performed the task, and their employees can testify to this fact."Mohamed Nazim
Public criticism is mounting against the current administration for its failure to adequately maintain and clean the minaret of the Malé Friday Mosque and the Medhu Ziyaaraiy shrine.
The Friday Mosque minaret requires frequent cleaning because it is constructed from coral stone and lime. Since lime takes a significant amount of time to dry, the frequent rainfall in the Maldives prevents this process, leading to the rapid growth of moss and algae on the structure. To address this issue, ongoing and consistent cleaning efforts are necessary to maintain the integrity and appearance of the minaret.
However, due to the lack of maintenance, both monuments have become significantly weathered and overgrown with moss, leaving them in a visibly neglected state.
