Minister of Housing Dr. Abdulla Muththalib has made a formal rectification to the total reclamation cost of Rasmale’ project with his announcement that the initiative will set the state back by USD 330 million.
Previous estimations put the figure north of USD 700 million, which means this new figure is almost 50% drop.
Muththalib gave the new number as a response to a question during the ‘Ahaa’ forum on Monday evening.
Although the minister has announced the reclamation costs, he along with the current administration has been facing some heat from the public and political opposition for keeping project details under wraps. The details regarding the lease of Rasmale’ to the Dubai-based developer Eagle Hills is still private knowledge, privy to select members of the government; Muththalib included.
While justifying the logic behind this new figure, the minister said the previous project cost estimates reflected the pace of the former administration’s reclamation efforts. Muththalib further said the current administration had done the works to restrain the project cost.