Housing Ministry assumes Thulhaadhoo housing issuance

Following several issues that have risen around the issuance of housing units in B. Thulhaadhoo, the Ministry of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure has now announced that they are taking over the responsibility of issuing these units. 

In an announcement issued yesterday, the Housing Ministry stated that the Thulhaadhoo Council had been tasked with announcing applications, evaluating application forms and handing over the housing units in accordance with the policy formulated by the previous administration's National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Ministry. 

However, a member of the public later filed a case at Thulhaadhoo Magistrate Court seeking to declare that the policy on issuing the 100 housing units is void, and the provisional list of recipients based on the amended policy published on October 9, 2023 by the Thulhaadhoo Council is also void. 

In the case, the Thulhaadhoo Magistrate Court ruled that the amendments brought to the earlier published policy was unlawful. The court ordered the council to comply with the policy published on May 11, 2022, and with the Ministry's advice. 

Despite this, the housing units remained unallocated due to various issues. 

- The council decided on September 11, 2024 to appeal the ruling. In an October 3, 2024 meeting, a decision was reached to not review the ruling. The Ministry instructed the Thulhaadhoo Council that as the court had ruled that the policy amendments brought to issue the housing plots were void, the policy published on May 11, 2022 should then be acted upon, and to re-evaluate the application forms submitted by July 21, 2022.

- Many individuals went to court claiming that the policy for issuing housing units was amended unlawfully, and that the council had not acted equitably in verifying the application forms. 

This administration's Housing Ministry said that the main issue noted in the court cases is that the Council had acted in violation of the policy published on May 11, 2022 and the ministry's directives on articles of the policy that needs to be referred to in the evaluation of the application forms. 

Hence, in order to handover the housing units to the eligible recipients at the earliest, the Housing Ministry instructed the council that the final list announced on September 18, 2025 should be cancelled, the application forms re-evaluated in accordance with the policy published on May 11, 2022 and the Housing Ministry's directives, and to inform the Housing Ministry after this was completed. 

Despite this, the Thulhaadhoo Council refused to cooperate with resolving the issue, the ministry said. 

"The B. Thulhaadhoo Council did not propose any solutions to this issue. The ministry believes that the forms being evaluated in contravention of the policy, leading to delays in handing over the housing units, is an obstruction to the implementation of the government's objective and policy," the Housing Ministry statement reads. 

"In addition to this, it infringes upon the rights of the rightful recipients of the housing units. The housing units remaining unused for a long period of time could lead to damage to the structure, and items inside, which could require extensive repairs before the units are finally issued. This, in turn, translates to high additional expenses, which would be an irreversible loss to the State," it read. 

The ministry stated that for these reasons, issuance of the housing units is now taken over by the ministry itself. 

"The issuance of the 100 housing units constructed in B. Thulhaadhoo will now be carried out under a policy formulated by this ministry and published on the government gazette. Additionally, evaluation of application forms submitted under this policy, and subsequent handover of the units, and related work has now been commenced by the ministry," they stated.

Construction of the housing units was contracted to Precision Engineering Services on a design and build plan in July, 2019 for MVR 79.6 million.

These housing units are 1,100sqft in size. Each unit has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a sitting room, kitchen, storeroom and laundry area.