More naturalised expats among Male natives land recipients

A third foreigner who became a citizen of Maldives is also on the list of free land granted to natives of Male by the government under its Binveriya scheme, it has been learnt.

State minister for housing Akram Kamaluddin said on Wednesday that the ministry was looking into the matter.

The list of Male natices who will receive free land under the government's Binnverya landlord scheme was announced on Monday.

Akram said the ministry had noticed that a third person was also on the list.

"A second and third person have been found in the list. We are still looking into whether there are any more people who have received citizenship," Akram, who also chairs the committee that compiled the list, said.

Akram declined to identify the third person. However, he assured that all foreigners who have acquired Maldivian citizenship will be removed from the final list.

Akram said that the first Indian was on the list due to a problem with the Department of National Registration (DNR) system. That was because when the information was collected, they had not been "pitched" by the system as having had another citizenship before becoming Maldivian citizens, he added.

When asked if the DNR system did not verify such information at all, Akram said it was not exactly a DNR issue either.

"That's because of the way we took the quarry [information]. We asked the system, anyone who has never registered in any other island except Male [is eligible for land from the city]. It didn't occur to us that a person who had taken citizenship would apply," Akram said.

He added:

Complaints are open for this list till July 15.

The ministry said the provisional list released on Monday includes those who are eligible for the 5,000 plots to be awarded in the first round.

According to the presentation made at the press conference by representatives of the Gedhoruveringe Committee, which is tasked with assessing and finalising the list of individuals eligible for flats and lands under the government's Binveriya and Gedhoruveriya housing schemes:

The Binnveriya scheme is designed to allot land from Male for natives of the capital city. The Gedhoruveriya scheme is meant to provide flats to natives as well as residents who have lived in Male for over 15 years.

Earlier, the housing ministry had said that around 36,000 applications had been received for the two schemes:

Under the Binveriya scheme, the land will be allotted by reclaiming Hulhumale and Gulhifalhu as well as Giraavaru lagoon. The total size of the land earmarked for allotment under the scheme is 3.7 million sqft. According to the ministry, the number of plots to be allotted will be decided based on the size of the plot to be allotted to individual applications selected for allotment.