Friday
26th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
At a press conference held yesterday at the health emergency operation center, Spokesperson at the President's Office, Mohamed Mabrook Azeez spoke on housing schemes. He emphasized the "Hiyaa" project initiated by former President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's administration, as well as the current government's loan schemes.
According to Mabrook, the former administration was planning on distributing flats to the public with incomplete finishings. He revealed that the lack of doors, tiles, and other components were part of the plan for the project. However, his statements were proven to be false.
In 2018, Housing Development Corporation (HDC) worked on acquiring a loan for the Hiyaa project's finishings. Previously, an HDC official confirmed to Dhiyares that the loan was cleared when new the new administration was established in 2018. It was later denied, citing the assigned company's "B" Fitch-rating, as well as other issues within the government.
Documents from the previous administration showed that flats were to be rented out after finishings were completed. Rent was set to be MVR 5,600, with an additional MVR 1,000 as a maintenance fee. A loan of USD 43 million was determined from Credit Suisse for the finishings.
A former HDC employee confirmed that the loan was then denied by a risk assessment committee at Credit Suisse. The informant stated it was due to the current government's threats to discontinue the former administration's projects and their claims that HDC was bankrupt with no chance of recovery.
While Spokesperson Mabrook stated the 'Gedhoriveriyaa' loan introduced by the current government was a new initiative, HDC had a pre-existing loan scheme called 'Gedhoruverikurun'. 'Gedhoruverikurun' was established in 2014, providing loans under MVR 400,000 within Islamic regulations.
At present, HDFC is providing loans up to MVR 1 million with an interest rate of 11%. Therefore, Mabrook's statement that the new scheme is the first of its kind is false.