Fast tracking the government’s development projects is the reason behind their inflated costs, says President Abdulla Yameen.

The President said this while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the GA. Kondey on Wednesday.

President Yameen said that the government is focused on doing high-quality work and that it should be expected that costs will rise if a 25-storey building is to be constructed for Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, adding that it will take much longer to build if the government were to reduce the cost.

“Hulhumale Phase-1 was reclaimed with the dredgers we already had. It took nine years. The later reclamation of a much larger area took nine weeks. If reclamation is to take nine years, would we really be able to reclaim areas for the youth?”

He also said that if Hulhumale’ is to be reclaimed in nine years, it would take five years to complete the island’s coastal protection project, and three years to establish the sewerage system. The loss of time and resources within those years would result in a much larger overall cost, he added.