Addu City Council has announced that it will soon open applications for 1,000 land plots.
Addu City Council will be opening applications for 100 land plots in Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo, 350 plots in Feydhoo, and 300-400 plots in Hithadhoo. The plots will be designated from empty land areas on the islands. The council will be giving out the plots to residents most in need of housing.
It has been over 15 years since land plots have been given out in Addu, the second-largest city in the Maldives. The housing issue is the most severe in Hithadhoo, which has over 16,000 residents. Land plots were last given out in Hithadhoo in 2002.
The government has also launched a project to reclaim land to solve the housing issue in Addu. The project, worth USD84 million, was awarded to Van Oord India Private Limited and is conducted under a direct line of credit facility from the Exim Bank of India. The company is set to reclaim land from Hithadhoo, Maradhoo, Maradhoo-Feydhoo, and two islands within the confines of the lagoon for the purpose of tourism development. The reclamation project is estimated to be completed within 18 months.
Additionally, the land reclamation projects in Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo were awarded to Maldives Transport Contracting Company (MTCC). A total of 194 hectares of land is set to be reclaimed in Addu as part of the project. An 11-km road embankment will also protect the area.