Government Undecided on Rent to Charge for Hiyaa Flats

The government has stated that no decision had been made on the rental fees for the Hiyaa flats.

Speaking at the Majlis, the Minister of Housing, Mohamed Aslam, had said that the Hulhumale Development Corporation had submitted 4 proposals regarding the flats, and he said that nothing had yet been decided so far.

Minister Aslam said that one option that had been proposed was to accept an amount as a downpayment, and to charge a rental fee of MVR 7,000 over a 20 year period. He mentioned that this was the cheapest option among the four options proposed.

He mentioned that the other options did include a rental fee to be paid without any up-front downpayment, and also an option to take lump sum payments, as well.

Dhiyares, the sister-newspaper of The Maldives Journal, had received a document regarding the pricing scheme proposed by the HDC to the government. As the cheapest price, the HDC had proposed MVR 7,367. The HDC is expected to make a MVR 921 million profit through this pricing scheme.

According to the document, the HDC is projected to earn a revenue of MVR 12،405،626،361.60 over a 20-year-period through leasing housing units and spaces to be used for commercial purposes. After deducting the total cost (MVR 7،755،888،595.10), the HDC is expected to earn an amount of MVR 4،649،737،766.50. After deducting interest repayments, refinancing costs, project management costs, and marketing costs (all of which sum up to MVR 3،728،264،496.31), the HDC will earn pure profit of MVR 921،473،270.19.

Although the paper had included finishing costs, the government had not been able to secure a loan to cover the finishing costs. The government had since decided to lease out the housing units without finishing.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had said that even without finishing, an apartment would be leased out for MVR 11,000 a month. However, according to the HDC's document, it is apparent that the housing unit's rental would, even with finishing, not exceed the amount that the President had mentioned.

The Hiyaa housing programme had been initiated by President Yameen Abdul Gayyoom, and it had overseen the construction of 7,000 housing units in the Hulhumale Phase 2 area. President Yameen's administration had decided on leasing out the flats at MVR 5,500 a month.