The name of an Indian man who was recently granted Maldivian citizenship was mistakenly included in the list of eligible land plot recipients, housing committee's chairman Akram Kamaludeen has said.
The list of 5,000 recipients under the 'Binveriyaa' scheme was published in the government gazette on Monday.
Habib Rahiman Mohamed Hanifa was listed in the eligible category. The government had earlier announced that land would be given to all the eligible people on the list.
Adhadhu understands that it has not been more than seven years since the 46-year-old was granted Maldivian citizenship. However, he has been residing in the Maldives for a long time.
Akram told Adhadhu that Habib's name was included in the list mistakenly and that such errors would be corrected when the final list is publicised later in July.
“An Indian citizen has not been given land. He is a resident of Male'. The matter has come to our attention. He is not eligible for land under the land allocation procedure and it will be corrected in the permanent list,” Akram said.
Habib was also a bidder when the government opened the sale of land in Hulhumale' in 2021. But his attempt was unsuccessful.
“Our guidelines state that only those who have never registered in any other island can get land under this scheme. We looked at the DNR system. He was previously registered in another country so the system did not pick it up," Akram added.
He said the purpose of publicising a provisional list is to open the opportunity for the public to submit complaints.
“Not only that issue but there are also other issues that have been identified and we are working to correct them. When the permanent list is released, they will be corrected,” Akram said.
Resolving the housing crisis in Male' is a key pledge of the current administration.
Applications were opened on June 26, 2022 to give 1000 land plots in Hulhumale', 2000 land plots in Gulhi Falhu and 2000 land plots in Giraavaru Falhu.
The government announced that 3000 plots out of the total 5000 would be allocated during the first round of the scheme.
Of the 19,858 applications received under the scheme, 12,794 were eligible. The list includes 10,314 recipients.
