The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has expressed concern on the issue of the Gulhifalhu Reclamation project being awarded to Boskalis Westminster Contracting without a bidding process.

The parliament's public accounts' committee decided to investigate the matter on Wednesday.

ACC voiced their concern via twitter stating that projects assigned without a bidding process would facilitate corruption and risk a great financial loss to the State. Furthermore, they stated that it goes against the Public Finance Act and Public Finance Regulations.

Additionally, ACC requested authorities to conduct procurement related tasks transparently in a competitive bidding process as according to the state's procurement regulations.

According to the press release by the Ministry of National Planning and Infrastructure, the ministry signed an agreement with Boskalis Westminster Contracting Limited on 17th October 2019 to reclaim six million cubic meters of land in Gulhifalhu and construct a four-kilometer sea wall within 180 days.

The USD 53 million project was launched under the government's initiative to reduce congestion in capital city Male’.

The Boskalis Westminster Contracting Limited company has successfully carried out land reclamation projects in the Maldives in the past, with a total of 198 hectares of land reclaimed in ten inhabited islands between 2007-2015.