The government prioritizes housing projects on larger and more populous islands to encourage migration from smaller islands, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said on Friday.
Speaking in Gan during a campaign trip to Laamu atoll in the name of an official visit ahead of the parliamentary elections, the President said housing was the most important aspect of development for all citizens. The government will carry out such projects on islands with large populations, he said.
“It should be prioritized in the most populous and spacious places. The result of that would be people from other islands as well migrating to that island for the purpose of population consolidation,” he said.
Under the policy of prioritizing populous islands, the President has decided to expand an ongoing project to build 100 housing units in Gan. The current project was not sufficient and more houses would be built on the island, he said. The housing project would become the one in which the most houses are built in the Maldives, the President said.
During the campaign as well as after assuming office, the President spoke about his population consolidation policy on several occasions. However, after facing criticism from the public and political parties each time, President Muizzu assured that he would not discriminate against smaller islands.
Last month, the President said in Dhaal Kudahuvadhoo that the Maldives could only be developed through population consolidation, which he said was a policy that the public voted for after he campaigned on it for the presidential election.
“I said on the night that the manifesto was announced that the Maldives could be developed by developing different regions, different zones. That it is only through population consolidation policies that the Maldives could be developed sustainably,” the President said at the time.
