The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has announced the resumption of land reclamation work in the Phase III area of Hulhumalé. Fifteen hectares of land have been successfully reclaimed as part of this initiative, according to HDC. This operation is a component of Segment B, which represents the second stage of the designated reclamation area.
This segment involves banking sand on 29 hectares of land, with over half of the area already reclaimed. President Muizzu announced the commencement of the second stage on the social media platform X, where he shared visual documentation of the ongoing work.
The first stage of the reclamation work, Segment A, was initiated in mid-September 2023 and concluded the following month, with 10 hectares of land successfully reclaimed. The project was launched by the Ibrahim Mohamed Solih administration, led by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), as part of their strategic housing initiative aimed at providing land plots to the residents of Malé City and mitigating the housing crisis in the region.
The third stage of the reclamation project will involve banking an additional 24 hectares of land, thereby increasing the total land area in Phase III to 63 hectares. The land reclamation project, contracted to the Colombo-based Capital Marine and Civil Construction (CMC) in late August 2023, is estimated to cost US$268 million.
The project also encompasses the land reclamation of Dhiyaneru Falhu, which is slated to be developed into a yacht marina, and an area on Thilafushi Island, designated as Area D. The latter has been allocated to CMC as compensation for the land reclamation project, granting the company development rights for a period of 99 years. An additional 10 hectares of land from Hulhumalé have been allocated to CMC for a similar duration, along with an advance payment of US$20 million.
Despite the project being commissioned to CMC, the physical dredging work is being executed by the Dutch company Boskalis.
