Verification of Male housing applications to finish in 3 months

Verification of applications submitted for two housing schemes announced by the government for natives and long-time residents of Male will be completed in three months, planning ministry announced Sunday.

The government had in July opened applications for Binnveriya Scheme, which exclusively grants land plots from the Male region for the capital city's natives, and Gedhoruveriya Scheme, which includes flats to both Male natives and long-time residents of the city. 

Application window for the two schemes ended at 12am on Sunday with 35,861 applications received through the dedicated portal: 

State housing minister Akram Kamaluddin told Atoll Times on Sunday that the process of verifying the information in the forms will be completed by the end of this year.

"We will ensure that each form contains authentic information and in cases of suspicion, we will go door-to-door to check," he said.

"We will start processing the forms today or tomorrow."

Residents of other islands who have lived in Male for 15 years are eligible to apply for flats allotted in the Male area under the Gedhoruveriya Scheme. However, only Male natives could apply for land, prompting criticism from the public.

Thousands of people from other islands who have spent their entire lives in Male often live without their own housing.