"Points for 'Hiyaa' applicants, allocated impartially in physical verification process"

The Committee Investigating Public Housing Schemes has reassured the public that points were allocated fairly in the physical verification process for applicants under the ‘Hiyaa’ public housing scheme.

In a press conference on Wednesday where committee members Thoha Mohamed, Ali Suhail Mohamed and Liusha Hassan provided the latest updates on how the ‘Hiyaa’ flats will be awarded to applicants.

Details provided include regarding the progress of their investigation, and member Thoha stated that the committee is yet to publicize the temporary list of eligible flat applicants under one category.

As such, he noted that the category for civil servants remains the only category for which the temporary list of eligible applicants has not been published yet.

Highlighting that the committee is currently verifying details of the applicants, Thoha noted that they are currently working to publish the temporary list for the civil servants’ category before the end of the year.

Thoha revealed that the committee recently publicized the evaluation criteria for the physical verification process to assess the current living conditions of applicants, for lists that have already been published.

Committee members also reiterated the government’s commitment to keep the awarding process transparent, stressing that they had received a number of complaints regarding how the flats were awarded during the former administration.

Details of the committee’s operational standards and strategic arrangements, which pave way for complete impartiality and fair allocation of points for all applicants, were also shared during the presser.

Committee members also stated their belief that points are currently being allocated impartially and fairly, as opposed to how the process went down in the previous administration. The committee is allocating points under a specific criterion.

The committee was formed by the incumbent administration to investigate whether the then-administration had issued flats deservedly, after complaints from the public began increasing regarding the allocation of housing units under ‘Hiyaa’, which was launched during the administration of now incarcerated, former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

Under the scheme, the government was initially to provide 7,000 housing units located in Phase II of Hulhumalé. However, it was reduced to 6,720 in order to set up commercial areas on the ground floor of each tower, during the incumbent administration.

China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited was tasked with the construction of 16 25-story towers under the public housing scheme. An agreement was signed between the state and the company in July 2016, to complete the project within two years. The construction work under the project commenced during December the following year.