Government office building in Hulhumale to open in Jan
Government had earlier planned to open the building in November.
A new government office building in Hulhumale being built at a cost of MVR 185 million will open next month, planning ministry said Wednesday.
Government had earlier planned to open the building in November, but state planning minister Akram Kamaluddin told Atoll Times on Wednesday that the six-floor office building will be opened in January.
He added that offices have now been asked to shift to the building.
"Offices will shift to the building in the first week of January. So, it will be officially opened in January," Akram said.
The building will house offices for:
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New US embassy
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Transport ministry
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Higher education ministry
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Gender ministry
The project was awarded to Hunan No.6 Engineering Co.Ltd., the company that constructed the Hulhule-Male-Hulhumale highway.
The project was awarded on 21 October 2019 to be completed within one year, but work was halted due to the pandemic.
Each floor has 25,000 square feet, and the ground floor will be used for reception and car parking.
The second floor is dedicated to motorcycle parking and four floors are allocated for offices. The top floor will be used for meetings, as a convection area.
Relocating rented state offices to the new building will bring some relief to the state budget. It is a matter of great concern for the finance ministry that such state expenditure has been increasing from year to year.
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State paid rent to 138 locations in Male in 2020
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MVR 77.7 million is paid annually for state office spaces rented in Male which is 64% of the budget allocated for state rent expenditure
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43 establishments leased from Male to run government offices
