Friday
26th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Housing Minister Aslam
Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam stated that he had wished to “demolish” the 7,000 Hiyaa Public Housing scheme units developed by the Yameen administration in the Hulhumalé Phase 2 area.
During a session of the Majlis today, MP Ahmed Shiyam (PPM-Naifaru), had pointed out that the Hiyaa area is filling up with drug abuse and other such vices, and asked what the government had done to solve it.
In response, Minister Aslam claimed that it was a bad decision to bring 35,000 citizens together in one small area. He said that the Hiyaa housing units were “pigeon cages” and he had wished to demolish them.
“I had wanted to demolish [the Hiyaa units]. If it were up to me, I would have demolished them by now. We did say that they were pigeon coops before”, said Minister Aslam.
The work on the Hiyaa units had progressed to a point of no return by the time the Solih presidency was inaugurated.
Officials of the Solih administration have consistently criticized the Hiyaa Public Housing Scheme, and even President Solih himself had claimed that “nobody would move in”. However, to date, none of the assigned tenants have given up their allocated housing units.
Although many people have moved into the Hiyaa units, the government has failed to provide basic services such as waste disposal and road development for the area.