A new land use plan (LUP) for Giraavarufalhu has been publicised with an estimated population of around 60,000 people.

This is the third LUP for Giraavarufalhu - a reclaimed city planned by the former administration to provide housing for Male' natives.

The new LUP publicised by the Housing Ministry has 4,072 land plots. The first LUP had 5,433 land plots and the second one had 3,462 land plots.

About 1,114 land plots had been moved to the nearby Gulhifalhu - another new city under development. The government said the 167 hectares of land to be reclaimed in Giraavarufalhu does not have enough space for all the land plots.

According to the LUP information sheet, the largest part of the land is reserved for roads. The narrowest road will have 10 meters. The second largest part of land is allocated for land plot allocation.

The government estimates that with the construction of five-floor buildings on the allocated land, about 6,000 households will reside in Giraavarufalhu. The population is estimated at 59,600 or 356 people per hectare. There are 667 people per hectare in Male' city.

About 69 hectares will be reclaimed in the deep lagoon area while 97 hectares will be reclaimed in the shallow area. No dredging has so far been done in the deep area. The Muizzu administration failed to adequately continue the project over the last two years.

In November, President Mohamed Muizzu announced that two dredgers would be brought to the Male' area through Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) to finish reclamation in Hulhumale' Phase 3 and Giraavarufalhu within three months. The deadline ends on February 25.