The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has refuted speculation that only 25 recipients of the flats developed by Tata Housing in Malé City can afford to make the full down payment deposit of MVR 2 million.

The HDC refused to acknowledge further inquiry, maintaining that the corporation is evasive of giving out information about flat recipients to individual news sources.

An official from the HDC maintained that the corporation would only release information it deems relevant at press conferences.

Mohamed Saiman, HDC’s Managing Director, told RaajjeMV that the corporation is conducting a financial screening of the list of recipients, which has now been included in the gazette.

MD Saiman added that HDC is working to make payment methods less burdensome through banks, the Housing Development Finance Corporation, and the Maldives Pension Administration Office.

In October 2016, the HDC held draws to assign flats, each with three rooms and two bathrooms, to over 200 registered recipients. While several news sources have reported that only 25 could make the payment in full, this is indicative of the public’s declining purchase ability.

The official explicitly stated that HDC had released no such figure.