President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu today stated that he will triple the pace of the Ras Male' project, the largest project of this government.

In a meeting with the residents of K. Gulhi, the President said that the Ras Male' project is the largest project that will provide the biggest solution to the housing issue in the Maldives from a single area, and will be the largest project where the most people will be populated on a single land mass.

"Land reclamation is currently underway. We are working to mobilize dredgers from additional companies to start multiple projects simultaneously. So the speed will double or triple," the President said.

He said that the Ras Male' project did not progress at the desired pace last year due to the difficulties faced from the many issues that needed to be resolved in the economy inherited by this government.

President Muizzu inaugurated the Ras Male' project, which aims to solve the housing problem by reclaiming Fushidhiggarufalhu, on December 18, 2023.

The project plans to reclaim 1,153 hectares of land, with work progressing in 12 areas. So far, land reclamation has been completed in only one area, which is 29 hectares.

The government initially awarded the Fushidhiggaru lagoon reclamation work to Sri Lanka's Capital Marine and Civil Construction (CMC). This was on the basis of giving land from Ras Male' and Hulhumale' in exchange for land reclamation without any expense from the state budget. However, the government later terminated the agreement with the company as they wanted to proceed with the project without giving land to the contractor.

After the project was halted for some time, the work was then awarded to India's Mohan Mutha Exports (MME) and China Railway Construction Company (CRCC) of China.

While the government has not revealed any details about this, HDC announced on November 10 last year that the Ras Male' reclamation project had restarted.