Akram alleges Dr. Muizzu's deal for high Gaakoshi flat prices

State Minister at Minister of National Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure Akram Kamaaludheen said the flats made on the land where Arabiyya School was previously located and old Gaakoshi was because of a deal orchestrated by the then Minister for Housing Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

Akram made these remarks in a series of posts on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, after opposition presidential candidate Dr. Muizzu said the prices of the flats developed by Indian company Tata Group was too high for social housing and that he would ensure the people that took loans to purchase these flats would have an easier way to pay it back.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who is seeking a second term in office, also voiced criticism of Dr. Muizzu's comments. The president said that while Dr. Muizzu is now criticising the high prices of the flats, he was the one who initially set those rates.

"Look at that price, who set that rental rate? He was the one who did so while serving as the Housing Minister. The current price is significantly higher than the rates set by our previous administration for flats in Gaakoshi and the land where Arabiyya School was formerly located. When they make false claims about this now, we have to question their credibility," President Solih said.

Dr. Muizzu had said the prices of the flats were not unreasonable comparative to the expenses incurred by the government to develop the flat, while he served as president. Referring to this, he said it is unfortunate that Dr. Muizzu was using such situations to ask the people for their votes amongst such fraud, while insulting the intelligence of the people. Akram said that by taking loans at high interest, people had to move to these places as they had no other option, but the government has given relief to the people on this front.

"This government has provided loans at low interest to a particular group of people and has given a letter of allotment of flats built by this government to those who were forced to take loans at high interest," Akram said.

Akram alleged that the cost of the flats had gone up after Dr. Muizzu took charge of the ministry after former president Mohamed Nasheed's government and resumed the project after making a deal to restart a project that had been stalled for a long time.