People of Eydhafushi awaiting housing for 8 years!

“MDP coalition will assign plots, from the 27 hectares to the people of Eydhafushi within the first six months of election,” President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih once said during his campaign for 2018 Presidential Election while visiting Eydhafushi to inaugurate their campaign office in the island on 29th July 2018.

The statement has now aged four full years, yet the vow remains unfulfilled. Conclusively, these promises have been proven to be empty bordering deceit to extort votes from the people of Eydhafushi.

Six months after his inauguration, on April 4, 2019, during a visit to N. Henbadhoo, the President declared that allotment of land to Eydhafushi people will commence shortly. Again, these words were spoken during the campaign of the Parliament Election.

Therefore, it became clear that this Eydhafushi housing is mentioned during campaigns and the president does not intend to deliver on his vow. Moreover, the likeliness of using the same premise to extort votes during the next election is intensified.

The land reclamation project in Eydhafushi was completed with a budget of MVR 169.6 million with a development of 25 hectares of land, during President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Qayoom’s administration to address the scarcity of land for its people.

However, the presidency changed prior to land allotment and now it serves as a weapon used by the residing president to gain favor with Eydhafushi people during elections.

Pres. Solih claimed later on that his inability to fulfill his vow was due to the declination of the island’s land use plan by the Ministry of Planning. The government feigned innocence, putting the blame on the island council.

After many efforts, in 2019, the land use plan was approved to allot 158 plots of 1400 square feet and the council has opened for applications.

Although, after applications were closed and the council was getting ready for distribution, Eydhafushi Magistrate Court ordered to halt the processes upon a complaint submitted by an individual concerned with the point system.

The case is still ongoing and it remains unclear how much longer it will take for a verdict.