Largest dredger boosts Rasmale' reclamation threefold: President

One of the two world's largest dredgers have been brought, which will triple the speed of Rasmale' reclamation, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu announced today. 

Rasmale' is the biggest project being conducted by this administration to address the housing crisis in the Male' area. Rasmale' is planned to be developed as a smart eco-city. 

In a post on X, the President announced that efforts to reclaim Rasmale' using one of the two world's largest Trailer Suction Hopper Dredgers, named "Cristóbal Colón" of Jan De Nul was commenced at 5am this morning. 

The President said that his 'dream project' of Rasmale' is being developed as a 100 percent net zero carbon, smart eco-city, which he said is the largest climate adaption project to be carried out in the Maldives to date. 

As of present, approximately 100 hectares of land has been reclaimed in Rasmale', which is 10 percent of the total project. This covers an area about half the size of Hulhumale' Phase 1. 

The government has announced that 25,000 plots of land would be given from Rasmale'. The policy for allocating 15,000 of these land plots and 7,500 flats has already been announced. Applications for these housing options is to be opened on January 4.

The government has also brought a separate large dredger to speed up reclamation of Hulhumale' Phase 3, another initiative aimed at resolving housing issues in the Male' area. President Muizzu earlier announced that with this, reclamation of Hulhumale' Phase 3 would be completed by the end of December. 

Once reclamation of Hulhumale' Phase 3 is completed, the dredger will then be used for reclamation of Giraavaru Falhu, a project expected to take two to three months, according to the President.