It has been revealed that a loan of MVR 650.7 million was issued to the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) from the state budget this year to cover the reclamation costs of Giraavaru lagoon, where land plots have been allocated under the "Binveriyaa" housing scheme.
This information came to light through the proposed budget figures for next year, indicating that this expenditure was not included in the original budget approved for the current year.
The budget initially approved for this year had only planned for a treasury loan of MVR 231.3 million, intended for the Maldives Centre for Islamic Finance (MCIF) for an SME Impact Fund.
However, the revised budget figures for this year show that the initial loan was completely scrapped, and the total treasury loan amount was increased to MVR 840.2 million. In addition to MACL, Fenaka Corporation also received a loan. The Finance Ministry stated that the MVR 189.5 million provided to Fenaka was intended for settling outstanding payments to suppliers.
The reclamation of Giraavaru Falhu began in May 2023 under the previous administration as a project managed by the Maldives Fund Management Corporation (MFMC). At the time, the contract for land reclamation was awarded to Capital Marine Engineering and Construction (CMC).
However, work on the Giraavaru Falhu reclamation project stalled shortly after the change of government. By the time operations ceased, only 56 hectares had been reclaimed out of the 120 hectares originally planned.
After a hiatus, MACL took over the project and resumed reclamation in January this year. Upon MACL’s takeover, the government expanded the reclamation area to 169 hectares under a new land-use plan.
When reclamation resumed, the government announced that the dredging phase would be completed by March this year, with land plots to be handed over in June. This deadline was later pushed to April and again to the end of May.
Five months have passed since those three deadlines, yet the reclamation of Giravaaru Falhu remains incomplete.
Satellite imagery analysed by Adhadhu indicates that no reclamation work has taken place at Giraavaru Falhu since it stalled in April this year. At the time work stopped, a total of 98 hectares had been reclaimed—including 44 hectares completed by MACL—leaving 71 hectares of land still to be filled.
