Only 1,820 applicants have been found to have been eligible for the social housing flats under the previous government’s ‘Gedhoruveriyaa’ housing scheme, Minister of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure, Dr Abdulla Muththalib announced Thursday.
The former administration led by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) initiated the development of 4,000 flats in Hulhumale' under the Scheme. However, the project remained incomplete at the end of the term. Ahead of the conclusion of then-President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s term, the government released a final list of flat recipients. However, after a case was filed regarding the list, the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) revealed that only 20 percent of the listed recipients met eligibility criteria.
The discovery by the ACC had forced the current Administration to conduct a thorough review of the recipients list.
Minister Muththalib told reporters on Thursday that the government had only evaluated and verified the credibility and eligibility of recipients on the list gazetted on 15 November 2023.
The then government announced that all who scored 76 points would get the three-bedroom flats, while the remaining recipients would be put to a draw, the Minister explained.
However, he noted that the list includes 3,721 people who had scored above 75 points while only 2,750 three-bedroom flats are under construction.
According to the Minister, the then government had also announced that all who scored 73 points would be eligible for the two bed-room flats under the scheme. There are 1,218 people on the list with that amount of points, he added.
However, Minister Muththalib pointed out that as 1,250 two-bedroom flats are under construction, the list that was reviewed and verified had a total of 4,930 people.
After the thorough review and verification, the Minister said that out of 3,721 people on the three-bedroom list, only 1,423 people had scored 75 points and above. Out of 1,218 people on the two-bedroom list, 397 people were found to be eligible with at least 73 points.
Minister Muththalib also revealed that applications with less than 75 points from the three-bedroom list and applicants who scored less than 73 points from the two-bedroom list were not reviewed and deemed ineligible for the flats.
The Minister insisted that the government had only verified the authenticity of the documents and applications submitted through the online portal and assured complete transparency throughout the whole process.
Any complaints about the reviewed flat list which has now been published can be submitted to the Ministry by letter or email, he added.