President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih officially inaugurated the newly built government office building in Hulhumale'.

The building named after former Public Works Minister Umar Zahir who passed away last year was opened during a special ceremony on Monday morning. The President raised the national flag at the building as part of the opening.

The six-story office complex features 25,000 sqft of office space on four floors and would see the relocation of three government ministries. It has been developed as part of the efforts to find relief from renting private spaces to run government offices.

The project was valued at MVR 185 million and was contracted to China's Hunan Construction Engineering Group by the Planning Ministry in December 2019. The floor space has been distributed as below to maximize usage:

Ground and First Floor: Parking Area

Second Floor: Ministry of Gender, Family and Social Services

Third Floor: Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation

Fourth Floor: American Embassy

Fifth Floor: Ministry of Higher Education

Sixth Floor: Small meeting rooms, seminar room and terrace

So far, the Gender Ministry has completed shifter their works to the building while the remaining ministries are working on the move.