Former Housing Minister and PPM Malé City mayoral candidate Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has stated that increasing the rent that was originally set by the government for the Hiyaa flates would be a "catastrophe" for residents of Malé.
Dr. Muizzu stated this in a tweet yesterday regarding the government's announcement that the housing units rent will be MVR 7,500 instead of the MVR 6,500 set by the previous administration.
Dr Muizzu said that tenants of the Hiyaa flats could come to own the flat in 25 years by paying a monthly sum of MVR 3,500. Dhiyares, the sister newspaper of The Maldives Journal, had previously reported that documents sent by the President's Office to the Housing Development Corporration showed that the flats were to earn the government a total profit of MVR 921 million.
According to the calculations by HDC, they stand to make MVR 12،405،626،361.60 in 20 years. The sum total revenue for the whole project is MVR 7،755،888،595.10 and with an estimated profit of MVR 4،649،737،766.50.