President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has announced that approximately 60 percent of the land reclamation for Rasmalé has been completed, and the entire project will be finalized within this year. The President shared these details today at a press conference held at the President's Office in response to a question from a journalist.

The President explained that the Rasmalé reclamation project experienced a temporary slowdown due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. He acknowledged that the project could not meet its originally scheduled completion date, citing rising fuel costs as the primary driver behind the delay, but noted that the operations are now restarting.

To minimize fuel expenditures, the project is now utilizing two dredgers instead of the three originally planned. Despite this adjustment, President Muizzu emphasized that the government's target remains to conclude the reclamation by the end of this year at the latest. He added that individuals who are allocated land plots from Rasmalé will be officially notified within this year.

The extensive land reclamation project is being executed across 11 designated sites, aiming to reclaim a total of 1,009 hectares of land. The project has been contracted to the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL). To facilitate the operations, MACL has deployed the Cristóbal Colón, one of the largest dredgers in the world, which possesses the capacity to extract 46,000 cubic meters of sand at once.