Sinamale’ flats to be rebuilt

The Male’ City Council decided Wednesday to seek investors to demolish and rebuild the Sinamale’ flats, built with the assistance of the Chinese government during Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration.

The decision was made with the unanimous consensus of 12 councilors who attended the council’s 103rd general meeting Wednesday.

The council decided to rebuild the flats as a new project.

At the meeting, the council’s financial manager Dr. Mohamed Shahid said the project will be carried out in two phases.

He said that 1,500 apartments will be built under the project, including two-bedroom apartments, three-bedroom apartments, and four-bedroom apartments. The size of the apartments will range from 800-1,300 square feet.

According to Shahid, all bedrooms will have attached toilets.

Under phase I of the Sinamale’ Re-development Project, the current five towers will be demolished and replaced with 700 apartments. The remaining 800 apartments will be built in the second phase.

The city council plans on conducting the project based on developer finance method.

128 out of the 700 apartments built in the first phase will be designated to relocate the current tenants of the Sinamale’ flats.

According to Shahid, the council will earn MVR 175 million as land cost from the project site, and an extra MVR 15 million income from the lease of commercial spaces and parking slots.

He said that the ground floor of all the towers will be designated for commercial use.

The towers will also have parking space for 500 cars and 2,000 motorbikes.

Shahid said the biggest challenge will be to get the necessary permits.

The Sinamale’ flats, built some 30 years ago, have 128 apartments.