The Public Finance Committee of the People's Majlis has decided to summon officials from the Housing Development Corporation Limited (HDC) to check on the progress of implementing recommendations from a report on the issue of unpaid rent for lands and buildings leased by HDC for business purposes.

The issue of HDC not receiving rent payments was brought to the committee on November 6, 2024, by Ahmed Azaan Marzooq, MP for Hithadhoo Central constituency.

According to the committee's report compiled last April after investigating the matter, the total amount owed to HDC by various parties reaches MVR 1.4 billion.

Among the recommendations approved by the committee in the report are:

  • Instructing the Finance Ministry to establish a system where government projects are not awarded to companies that have outstanding debts to the government or government-owned companies.
  • Directing HDC to develop and submit to the Public Finance Committee a robust system for collecting due payments from leased lands and buildings.
  • Estimating the market value of assets of parties with outstanding payments and seizing these assets to recover the owed money.
  • Establishing a strong system to evaluate whether applicants for HDC's bids and business opportunities have any outstanding payments to the corporation.
  • Ensuring that HDC verifies whether new project awardees or bid applicants owe any money to HDC before awarding additional projects.

The committee aims to assess how far these recommendations have been implemented by summoning HDC officials.