News Desk
MALE’ — Former Hulhumale’ constituency MP Ali Niyaz has accused the current government of making a significant political and economic error by halting two major land reclamation projects started under the previous administration and redirecting all resources toward the new Rasmale’ project, which he says has yet to produce any visible results.
Speaking on a Sangu TV programme, Niyaz said the MDP government’s reclamation work at Gulhifalhu and Giraavaru had been progressing on a timeline designed to deliver plots to residents by the end of that government’s term, with financing arrangements in place to match the pace of work. Stopping those projects mid-stream and starting fresh with Rasmaale, he argued, was a decision that has left the housing crisis no closer to resolution.
“Before taking office, even during the transition period, they said they had a plan to manage the debt. But two and a half years have passed and no external assistance has been secured. That reflects a weakness in how policies were planned,” he said.
Niyaz also pushed back on the current government’s criticism of the previous administration for distributing plots from reclaimed lagoons to Male’ residents. He noted that he himself had applied for a plot through the Rasmale’ scheme, but said that to date no reclaimed land from that project is visible on the ground.
He acknowledged that the previous MDP government also borrowed heavily, including during the Covid-19 period, but argued the difference was that those loans came with a coherent plan for how the money would be used and repaid, and that residents saw tangible outcomes as a result.
The opposition’s broader argument is that success in housing does not come from announcing large new projects but from finishing what has already been started and to which public expectations are already attached. Completing Gulhifalhu and Giraavaru reclamation, they say, would have been both economically and socially more productive than pivoting to Rasmale’.
The government has not yet responded publicly to Niyaz’s specific remarks. Rasmale’ remains one of President Muizzu’s flagship infrastructure commitments, but with the current term past its midpoint the political pressure to demonstrate progress is growing.
