The monthly rent for the flats under the former administration’s ‘Hiyaa’ shelter project will not exceed MVR 7,000.

Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Mohamed Aslam announced this at a press conference held on Monday, stressing that the government will follow through with the pledges regarding housing.

This is a difference from what the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) said, who back in 2019, said that the monthly rent for the flats will average at MVR 11,000.

Aslam said that the flats can only be handed over to recipient after completing all required work under the agreements signed for the project, adding that this might take an additional eight months.

Noting that they still have to complete some work such as flooring, the minister said that discussions have also been held with the State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) and the Male' Water and Sewerage Company (MWCSC), regarding the provision on electricity and water to the flats.

Aslam added that they estimate this work to take an additional eight months to complete.

Furthermore, the minister assured that their aim is to handover the flats to the owners “as soon as possible”. Noting that they had previously intended to improve the conditions of the flats prior to handover, Aslam said that they have since decided against this so as to not further delay the handover.

The 16-tower ‘Hiyaa’ project was handed to China State Construction Engineering Corporation on 20th July 2016, by the previous administration. A total of 7,000 flats were to be built, on a loan of USD 434 million. This is an average of USD 62,000 per flat.

While the work on the project commenced in December 2017, the project was to be completed in 730 days as per the agreement. Hence, the work should have completed by December last year.

The ‘Hiyaa’ project was marketed and initially launched to provide 7,000 housing units being developed at the reclaimed ‘Phase 2’ area in Hulhumalé, the capital city’s urban extension.

While this has since been reduced to 6,720 flats, HDC had said that the reason for this is because of the decision to set up commercial areas on the ground floor of each tower.