Gov't publishes list of civil service employees eligible for 'Hiyaa' flats

A temporary list of eligible candidates under a category of the ‘Hiyaa’ public housing scheme have been publicized.

The government-established Committee Investigating Public Housing Schemes published the temporary list for eligible candidates under the Civil Service Employees category, in the government gazette on Monday.

The publicized list contains details of re-evaluated points for those who applied for the Civil Service Employees’ category.

Further, the list contains names of government institutions where applicants had revealed they work at, at the time applications were submitted.

In this regard, the committee noted that the publication lists the names of the ministry when they were submitted, after which new ministries have been formed and some ministries have had their names changed.

Monday’s publication also includes points allocated under guidelines followed by the then-Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure. In June this year, the ministry was official renamed as the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih dissolved the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, shifting its responsibilities to the planning ministry.

The housing committee went on to reveal that points are also awards for contributions employees make, as well as their educational qualifications by 15 January, 2018.

The ministry’s guidelines highlight that applicants will be ineligible from receiving flats under the public housing scheme, should they resign from their jobs before receiving the keys to the housing units.

Guidelines go on to reveal that married individuals will be entitled to a single unit, although both spouses qualify for housing, under their respective category.

The committee has opened the opportunity to forward complaints regarding the temporary list, via the 'Hiyaa Complaints Portal', through which complaints will be accepted until January 3, 2021.

Launched during the administration of now incarcerated, former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, ‘Hiyaa’ saw the development of 16, 25-story towers constructed by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited.

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.

The previous administration was initially to provide 7,000 housing units located in Phase Two 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.

The Committee Investigating Public Housing Schemes was formed by the incumbent administration to investigate whether the then-administration had issued flats in a just manner.