Attorney General's Office has stated that the halt of the Gulhi Falhu project would cause daily losses of millions to the State, and hence the State will appeal the High Court's interim order at the Supreme Court.
Attorney General's Office has stated that the halt of the Gulhi Falhu project would cause daily losses of millions to the State, and hence the State will appeal the High Court's interim order at the Supreme Court.
The case was initially submitted to Civil Court last year by a private individual claiming that former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's administration was conducting the reclamation work of Gulhi Falhu in a manner that would cause harm to the environment. Although a halt order was sought at the time, Civil Court ruled then that such an order could not be issued.
However, the High Court issued an interim order yesterday instructing that all work related to the reclamation project be halted until the case is concluded in Civil Court.
The order said that if an interim order to halt the project is not issued, damage to the environment caused by the project may cause irreversible loss to the plaintiff, the general public, as well as coming generations. The ruling stated that the in comparison, the financial loss the halting of the project may cause the State appears much less significant than the loss the continuation of the project would cause the environment.
Therefore, with the majority vote of the bench, through Judge Mohamed Shaneez Abdulla and Judge Huzaifa Mohamed, the interim order was issued to halt the project until the case at Civil Court is concluded.
In a post on social media platform X last night, Attorney General Ahmed Usham said, "The Gulhi Falhu project is worth billions. About 80 percent of the reclamation work of Gulhi Falhu is already complete, every day the rest of the work is delayed will cause millions of loss to the State".
The project was handed over to Netherland's Boskalis Company on October 17, 2019. The agreement is to reclaim 65 hectares of land for MVR 2 billion.
However, after assuming office, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has decided to extend the reclamation project by another 85 hectares, and add a second phase of 150 hectares. Reclamation work on this project was ongoing till date.
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