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HULHUMALE'- A useless project

OPINION by Mohamed Hameed, Sunday 18th July 2004

Aerial Photograph of Maldives commercial zone

I am a young boy studying in CHSE. Unlike many Maldivians, I don't support the Hulhumale' project. I know it is hard to believe this fact, for the simple reason all Maldivians are forced to believe it through a long term media campaign.

At first, is it necessary for us to create a new island? We have more than 900 uninhabited islands. There is plenty of land in Villingili which is not used at all. Let me ask you a question, is it really so important for us to spend millions and millions of Rufiyaa on Hulhumale' project?

Artists rendition of what Hulhumale' would look like when completed

Well many would say that this would solve the problem of shortage of housing and land in Male'. We developed the Villingili for the same purpose. Was this a success? To some extent it is, but I am sorry to say that there are many lands unutilized in Villingili. Infect many of them are reserved for government purposes. I don't see any point in reserving all these places for government purposes. After all this island is developed to assist the citizens. I do agree that few people living in Male' would migrate to Hulhumale' too. But is this the real issue?

Before trying to solve any problem we should examine and analyse what the real problem is and the root cause of it. Why more than 70,000 people live in Male'? Is it just because it is capital? NO. More than 96% of the students of the students living in EPSS, MES, Galolhu Madharusaa, Ameeru Ahmed, Madharusathul Aliya, Maafannu Madhrusaa and Muhiyuddin School (Villingili School) are from islands, and of course there is pretty good number of students from Aminiya Majeediyya, Dharumavantha, Ghiyasuddin, Jamaaluddin, Imaaduddin, Kalaafaanu and Iskandharu School. When we take the total number of students studying in Male', it is crystal clear that the number of students from Male' are outnumbered by the number of students from islands.

Doubtless, this is a clear indication that most of the people have migrated to Male' to obtain proper education for their beloved children. Unfortunately there are many students who are living as servants to 'beyfulhun' in Male'. These are students unable to rent room and live on themselves due to financial incapability, but still compelled to live a prison life in Male' because there is no proper education in their homelands. No one realizes their pain and feelings. Some people migrate Male' to look for employment also, but these are few.

Therefore the real problem is not shortage of housing and land in Male', but no proper schools and education in islands. This is definitely the failure of the present government. I think we should spend money to build schools, hospitals in islands rather than wasting money on Hulhumale' project, play grounds, flats etc. for the huge capital we have invested (wasted) on Hulhumale' project, we could have built many schools and many hospitals in many islands. This would certainly be a valuable investment which would provide a good supply of skilled labours in future and will ultimately bring development to whole Maldives. This useless project has made us indebted in many countries in the world.

So, I not only think Hulhumale' project is pointless but also a wastage of valuable resources. This project is no where close to the real solution, but birth of many problems.