President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has stated that his administration will become the government that provides housing for the highest number of citizens in the country’s history.
Housing remains one of the most significant social challenges facing the Maldives, with successive governments undertaking various efforts to address the issue.
Concerns over housing have long been linked to wider social challenges, as many families continue to live in overcrowded conditions with multiple children and limited privacy, contributing to increased domestic tensions and instability within households.
Speaking at a gathering of the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), President Muizzu said previous administrations had primarily focused on housing projects as elections approached.
The President stated that it had become a visible pattern for foundations to be laid and projects to begin shortly before elections, while many developments remained incomplete and were not handed over to recipients before the end of the electoral term. He said this pattern was evident during the past two administrations.
President Muizzu also reflected on his previous tenure as a cabinet minister, stating that he had worked extensively at the time to ensure the completion and distribution of the “Hiyaa” housing flats within that government’s term. However, he said obstacles prevented the process from being completed as intended.
“Through the work of the ministry I was in charge of at the time, I worked with great conviction and appealed repeatedly to avoid doing things that way. I requested that work, which could have started two years earlier, be facilitated so that recipients for the Hiyaa flats could be determined and handed over within the term. However, no policy direction was given to make that happen,” President Muizzu said.
The President emphasised that housing had been prioritised by his administration from the first day in office. He stated that efforts are currently underway to complete housing flats left unfinished by the previous administration, while land reclamation work is also being carried out for housing plots allocated from lagoons and reef areas during the past government.
President Muizzu further noted that, alongside the completion of unfinished flats and the reclamation of land for housing plots, work has already commenced on several thousand additional apartment units. He added that numerous housing projects are currently underway across islands throughout the Maldives, with many more projects scheduled to begin this year.