A total of MVR 58.8 billion is needed to complete projects under the Housing Ministry, Housing Minister Dr Abdulla Muththalib has said.

In a written response to a question from Hulhumale' South MP Dr Ahmed Shamheed, Minister Muththalib said no specific amount had been allocated to individual projects in this year’s budget.

He said project funding was determined by the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises, which allocates funds in line with implementation plans.

“The Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises will allocate the budget for the projects in accordance with the plan,” Minister Muththalib said in his written reply to Parliament.

The MVR 58.8 billion required for the Housing Ministry’s projects exceeds much of the government’s overall spending capacity. The total state budget for this year is MVR 64.2 billion, of which MVR 22.8 billion is expected to be spent on salaries and administrative expenses, Minister Muththalib said.

Finance Minister Hassan Zareer said yesterday that 1,273 projects had been contracted and were under way across the Maldives.

Speaking at the government’s Ahaa forum, Minister Zareer said harbor development projects had been delayed by the war in the Middle East, which began in March, citing difficulties in transporting construction materials, including boulder rocks.

This year’s budget allocates MVR 393 million for harbor development.

Minister Zareer said the ministry’s monitoring team was overseeing implementation and prioritizing projects according to their urgency and available funding.

“We are prioritizing the projects based on the respective minister’s project, and we are also allocating funds according to those priorities. So all the projects in all the islands are prioritized for us based on the availability of funds,” he said.

The budget allocates MVR 8.3 billion for Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) projects this year. Of that amount, MVR 4.8 billion had been spent so far.