Hulhumale reclamation for land scheme begins

Reclamation of the Hulhumale lagoon began on Friday.

Sri Lanka’s Capital Marine and Civil Construction (CMC) was awarded the contract in August to dredge 62.6 hectares of land west of Hulhumale for part of the government's Binnveriyaa scheme.

The dredging work was scheduled to start Thursday but was postponed to Friday due to the fact that some vessels anchored in the lagoon had not been removed.

Urbanco Project Manager Hussain Hanan Ahmed told reporters on Thursday that the dredging work will be carried out in different phases.

"Out of the total 63 hectares, 10 hectares are being dredged [first]. The rest will be dredged as soon as that part is completed," he said.

"We are targeting to complete the first dredging within 1-2 weeks”.

Although the contract gives a six-week deadline, Hanan said the contractor is working to complete the work sooner.

Urbanco had early this month released a drawing showing the planned dredging of Hulhumale lagoon. The project is planned to be implemented in three phases. They include:

Reclamation of land from Hulhumale phase 2, K. Thilafushi industrial island, and the Dhiyanaru lagoon in Kaafu Atoll was awarded to CMC at a cost of $259 million (MVR 4 billion), with funds raised from selling two plots in Hulhumale and Thilafushi.

CMC has been given a three-year deadline to complete the project. The works to be done under the agreement are:

The project has been awarded to CMC on contractor finance basis. For the various works involved in the project, CMC will use various subcontractors including Dutch dredging company Boskalis, which is reclaiming land for the port development at Gulhifalhu lagoon.

Urbanco has drastically altered the master plan to reclaim the lagoon area of Hulhumale Phase 2 where the previous government had decided to develop a cruise terminal.

The government of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has decided to build the cruise terminal at the lagoon next to the Dhiyanaru lagoon or Dhiyanaru Lagoon 2.

Meanwhile, housing ministry has earlier said that the permanent registry of land under the Binveriya scheme will be handed over to all land recipients before November 11.

In July, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih announced that the administration plans to allocate 2,000 housing plots in Gulhifalhu, while reserving another 2,000 for the housing scheme in Giraavarufalhu.

Land reclamation in Giraavarufalhu is underway.