Higher Education Minister Dr. Ali Haidar has announced that he plans to relinquish the flat allocated to him under the Gedhoruveriyaa Scheme.
Haidar made the announcement on Thursday via X, following public uproar and many questioning how a minister was eligible for social housing.
In his statement, Haidar said that he plans to give up the three-bedroom apartment allocated to him and his wife as co-applicants due to his current position. "I believe that there are so many more families who deserve a flat from this scheme more than the two of us," he said.
The Gedhoruveriyaa Scheme is a 4,000 apartment social housing project initiated by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration. The government at the time released a list of eligible applicants. However the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) raised allegations of fraudulent applications.
The current administration, after a year long process of verifying those on the eligible list, issued a revised document which had Haidar's name on it. According to Construction Minister Dr. Abdulla Muththalib, Haidar was on the original eligibility list as well.
However, this did not answer the question of many, who pointed out that a fundamental requirement of the scheme was a minimum of 15 continuous years of residency in Malé, while Haidar had lived a number of years in Australia.
In the final list, a total of 1,820 people were declared eligible, out of which 1,423 people would receive three room apartments and 397 applications are to get two room apartments.
In a press conference regarding the housing project, Muththalib said that the current administration verified whether the 4,000 people on the list prepared by the former government were eligible.
He said they looked at those who scored more than 76 points from the previous list of eligible applicants, with any remaining flats to be decided by draw among those who scored 75 points. Eligibility of the two room apartment required a minimum of 73 points at the time, he added.
Speaking further, Minister Muththalib said they did not look at the forms of anyone who was not already on the list created by the last administration. He also said the biggest problem they identified was that fraudulent documents were submitted to prove applicants had lived in Malé for a period of 15 years.
At the time, the housing project was aimed for people who lived in Malé continuously for the past 15 years. Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) found that a lot of fraudulent documents were submitted to meet this requirement.