Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has revealed that 301 tenants who received flats from Hiyaa housing, Gulhifalhu flats, and the Sealife housing project have applied for flats from the Vinares housing project. The government decided to give owners of these housing projects the opportunity to apply for a housing scheme that is affordable for them.
The government first opened the opportunity to those who received flats from Sealife and Gulhifalhu, including those who have been selected for these two schemes but have not received housing for various reasons.
A project of 216 housing units was inaugurated in Gulhifalhu, Kaafu Atoll. However, the government later decided not to continue the project in 2013. However, many families who received flats from Gulhifalhu had already paid large sums of money when the project was halted. HDC said 100 people who got flats from the Gulhifalhu project have applied for flats from the Vinares project.
In addition, the government provided tenants from the Sealife housing project to apply for Vinares flats. SeaLife Global was contracted to develop 3,000 housing units in Hulhumale' in 2016. However, it was later revealed the company was selected without assessing its capacity to conduct a project of such a large scale. Although the apartments had never been built, the company took advanced payments from several prospective flat buyers, of which 203 people later charged the company in court to seek compensation. HDC is working to provide an alternative for the buyers when a settlement agreement outside the court was made between HDC and Sealife Global after declaring USD2.9 million as compensation. HDC said123 individuals have applied for the Vinares project.
Furthermore, the government allowed tenants from Hiyaa flats to apply for the Vinares flats. HDC said 78 individuals utilised the opportunity. Although a total of 301 individuals from the aforementioned projects have applied for Vinvares flats, HDC said it has not allocated a specific number of flats for these categories. Further, HDC said the application review process is underway.
The Vinares housing project involves the construction of 10 towers with 1,344 housing units, all of which are three-room apartments. The Vinares flats are developed in four concepts: 172 marina view flats, 372 outer view flats, 352 inner view flats, and 448 standard view flats. The marina view apartments have a view of the yacht marina and cruise terminal, while inner view apartments have a view of the main roads. The outside view is of the city, and standard apartments are in the middle of the towers.