Housing Minister Dr. Ali Haidar Ahmed has said that the list of recipients of the 4,000 flats developed by the former government under the Gedhoruveriya housing scheme will be made public and the flats will be handed over before the end of this year.

Haidar told state broadcaster PSM's Raajje Miadhu program on Saturday night that more than 20,697 applications were submitted for 4,000 flats and the list of recipients will be announced next week after re-evaluation.

"After re-evaluating all the forms, we will hopefully release a provisional list within the next week. Then we will open the opportunity to file complaints. We will do that work and hopefully hand the flats over before the end of this year," Haidar said.

Housing Ministry had earlier decided to announce the list of flat recipients before the end of October. However, the list was postponed to the second week of November as more time was needed to re-evaluate all the forms.

Haidar said the decision to re-evaluate the forms was taken following the advice of the committee set up by the ministry and the city council.

The former government had declared 15,046 applicants eligible for the Gedhoruveriya housing scheme. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government, at the time, decided to give flats to all of them.