The government is looking to annul the Giraavaru Falhu land reclamation contract and explore alternative avenues to complete the project, the Minister of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure, Dr Abdulla Muththalib has revealed.
The agreement for the reclamation of Giraavaru Falhu was signed between the Maldives Fund Management Corporation and the CMC-Boskalis Joint Venture Company of the Netherlands.
Responding to a citizen’s question at the Ahaa forum held on Monday over the awarding of land plots from Giraavaru Falhu, Minister Dr Muththalib admitted the delay in the reclamation as a major concern.
According to the Minister, the previous government had on two occasions paid USD 20 million in advance payments for the dredging of the Giraavaru Falhu and had also released an additional USD 15 million upon the contractor’s request.
However, despite the contract stipulating a total of 160 hectares of land to be reclaimed, the company had only managed to dredge 60 hectares of land, he explained.
“When we look at it, the value of the completed dredging is about USD 20 million. The agreement was signed with the contractor and a government company called the Maldives Fund Management Corporation,” he added.
The Attorney General is continuing to explore a way to annul the contract without paying additional compensation for the contractor, the Minister said.
"This contractor has a past history of delaying projects and going to arbitration to seek major compensation once the contract is terminated. So we have to be careful in minimising the damage of prematurely terminating the contract,” he explained.
Minister Dr Muththalib admitted that the Giraavaru Falhu land use plan needs to be revised after some land plots were relocated to Gulhi Falhu, adding that the land registrations will commence once the new land use plan is finalised.
President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has announced plans to reclaim an additional 50 hectares of land, expanding on the initial 160 hectares designated for the project.
During the Ahaa Forum, Minister Dr Muththalib revealed that the government is working to secure finance for the construction of 10,000 housing units - an electoral pledge of the incumbent Administration.
He assured that precedence will be given to applicants who were unjustly omitted from the social housing list during the past two governments.
"We will give priority to those who were promised flats by the previous governments from the first housing project of this Administration,” he assured.