The Gulhifalhu land reclamation project started by the previous government to develop a commercial port and provide housing to residents of Male' has been completed, the Construction Ministry said yesterday.
The Gulhifalhu reclamation project was awarded to Boskalis from the Netherlands and financed with loans from European banks and funds from the government budget. The project was carried out over two phases.
A 192-hectare area was reclaimed from the lagoon by pumping out 18 million cubic meters of sand. The dredging and reclamation work was completed on Monday, the Construction Ministry announced in a post on X.
The nearly MVR 3 billion Gulhifalhu project used the largest amount of sand for a land reclamation project carried out in the Maldives to date. A lawsuit concerning the project had also been filed at court over environmental damage from dredging.
The Male' commercial harbor was previously planned to be relocated to Gulhifalhu but the current government decided to build the port in Thilafushi and reserve Gulhifalhu for residential use. The government also decided to add 85 hectares of land to Gulhifalhu.
Along with plans to expand the reclaimed area, the government also decided to change some of the plots awarded from Giraavaru by the previous government to Gulhifalhu. But reclamation has to begin on the area designated by the government for relocating the plots.
The government said previously that work would begin on adding 85 hectares to Gulhfalhu after the ongoing project was completed.
