Financing for further reclamation of GulhiFalhu not confirmed yet: Muththalib

Minister of Construction and Infrastructure Dr Abdulla Muththalib has said that financing for further reclamation of GulhiFalhu has not been confirmed as of yet.

In a press conference held at the President's Office yesterday, Minister Muththalib said that funding has not been confirmed yet for the reclamation by MTCC of 85 more hectares from GulhiFalhu. He said that efforts are ongoing to seek the necessary funds.

"Along with that, I would like to highlight that we signed with MTCC to reclaim an additional 85 hectares from GulhiFalhu that the government wants to do and worked on obtaining financing. However, the work has not commenced yet as we do not see a clear path to obtaining those funds yet," he said.

"Our target is to work in various ways and start work on reclamation of these 85 hectares soon."

As the area set for reclamation is very deep, the project will have a significantly high cost, Mihaaru News reports.

The previous administration led by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had reclaimed 150 hectares from GulhiFalhu through a contract with Netherland's Boskalis. This work was completed within this year.

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, meanwhile, decided on reclaiming an additional 85 hectares from GulhiFalhu. The current government has also redrafted the land use plan for GulhiFalhu.

Muththalib said that the land needed for GulhiFalhu-Thilafushi segmennt of the ThilaMale' Bridge will also soon be handed over to the contractor, AFCONs.

The previous administration also had decided to grant land plots from Gulhi Falhu to residents of Male'.

Due to the changes brought to the land use plan, a draw is set to be held again today between the recipients of land plots in GulhiFalhu and those transferring there from GiraavaruFalhu.

With the changes to the land use plan, 3,520 residential land plots will be issued from GulhiFalhu.