Land reclamation for the current administration's flagship project to develop the Fushidhiggaru lagoon in south Male' atoll as Rasmale' has stalled, Adhadhu has learned.
Aside from 29 hectares at the first reclamation site J, no other area has been reclaimed, photos and videos taken by Adhadhu on February 1 and February 22 showed. A dredger could no longer be seen in the video taken on February 22.
Marine vessel tracking websites confirmed that a dredger was not active in the area. A dredger could not be seen either at the sand borrowing site designated in the EIA (environment impact assessment) report.
When Adhadhu raised questions with the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), which is overseeing the project, a media official said the project was ongoing without any interruption.
Land reclaimed so far under the Rasmale' project. -- Photo: Mirash Nashim/ Adhadhu
However, a credible source with knowledge about the project told Adhadhu that Rasmale' reclamation work has stalled. The source also confirmed that the dredger had left the area.
If work had progressed in line with the schedule in the EIA for the Rasmale' project, the reclamation of site J would have been completed last month by the dredger that started the project.
The timeframe estimated in the EIA for building the bound wall and levelling the ground was between 60 to 75 days. But 69 days have now passed since reclamation of the first stage of Rasmale' began on December 18, 2023. Work progressing in line with the schedule in the EIA can not be seen from the site.
Work on reclaiming 1,153 hectares from the 1,280-hectare lagoon south of Male' with a target of completion in eight months began without an EIA for the whole lagoon. An EIA was only done for the 29-hectare site J.
The President said reclamation of the massive area would be completed in eight months with the cost to be covered by 70 hectares of land pledged to the Sri Lankan contractor Capital Marine and Construction Company (CMCC), including 10 hectares from Hulhumale' and 60 hectares from the land to be reclaimed from the Fushidhiggaru lagoon.
