The new Minister of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure, Dr. Abdulla Muththalib announced at a press conference held at the President's Office on Tuesday that he has decided to “verify” the forms of those who were awarded flats under the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme.
The minister said that verifying the list is necessary as relevant institutions have informed that there are issues with the list.
Therefore, he said they will check whether the people on the list meet the criteria of the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme announced by the former administration of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). The minister also said that after that, the list will be gazetted, detailing how each individual earned points, the reasons for their selection and the rationale for those who were not selected.
The minister went on to note that the Housing and Urban Development had previously decided to proceed with the work by forming an advisory committee.
According to previously disclosed information, two committees were formed for this matter, and both committees have given the advice they needed to give to the housing ministry.
The minister emphasized that the advisory committee for the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme has done a very sincere job.
He said that everyone has worked to give flats to those who deserve them in the most just manner.
Highlighting that at that time, they were carrying out the re-evaluation work of 20,000 people and the verification process of 4,000 people, the minister said that what they are doing now revolves around checking whether any of these 4,000 people do not meet the criteria and giving it to them as soon as possible.
The housing minister highlighted that he is doing this to protect the rights of the 4,000 people who were announced to have been awarded flats as much as possible.
This was how the current housing minister shared the details on Tuesday, regarding how he is carrying out the work of the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme.
Going back about a year, on 4 December 2023, the former housing minister Dr. Ali Haidar appeared before the Parliament's Petition Committee regarding the issue of flats.
Speaking at the committee, Haidar said that what he would do is to try to protect the rights of those 4,000 people as best as possible and that they would give assurance to those who meet the criteria that we will hand over the flats are checking whether they meet the criteria or not.
More than a year has passed since Haidar said that. Now Haidar has been transferred to another ministry. The housing ministry’s purview was brought under Muththalib’s jurisdiction. It is generally believed that there will be continuity in the ministry even if the minister changes.
Clarifying the meaning of verification, the new housing minister said that it is checking for people who do not meet the criteria among the 4,000 people. Haidar was doing the same work. In addition to 20,000 forms, checking whether 4,000 forms meet the criteria. However, new housing minister’s statement clarifies that this has not been completed yet. Otherwise, he would not have said that he would verify the forms of those 4,000 people.
For a year, Haidar claimed to “protect” the rights of 4,000 flat recipients. However, no tangible results were seen from the efforts to protect said rights. Now, the new housing minister has stepped in, pledging to safeguard the rights of the same 4,000 flat recipients. Both ministers are taking similar actions in their efforts to protect these rights; verifying the details.
The new housing minister said that he will release the list after verification before the upcoming fasting month of Ramadan. There are 45 days left until Ramadan. Even if we consider at the rate of 4,000 forms, 89 people's forms need to be verified every day. They will check and verify all the documents submitted by everyone who was awarded flats according to the criteria announced by the former administration.
