Ras Malé Reclamation Reaches 70%, President Says

About 70% of Ras Malé has been reclaimed, President Mohamed Muizzu said in an interview on the state broadcaster PSM's Nation Chat programme, reported on 26 September 2026. He said the government expects the reclamation of the whole area to be finished by the end of 2026.

It's the latest progress figure for the country's largest land reclamation project, up from about 60% in late June. Our progress tracker keeps the official figures in one place.

What the President said

• Progress: about 70% reclaimed, with completion expected by the end of the year. He described the finished area as about 1,100 hectares.
• What comes next: work to start electricity, water, sewerage and road development is under way, with the aim of beginning before the end of 2026.
• More dredging capacity: the state-owned Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) has secured a dredger three times larger than its current trailing suction hopper dredger, the Mahaa Jarraafu, due to arrive before the end of the year.
• The wider city: the full development of Ras Malé is expected to take about 10 years.
• Housing: about 600 hectares would remain for public housing plots. He said there was enough land for eligible applicants, and that no plot had been cancelled because of the Eagle Hills waterfront deal.

Much of the interview was about the Eagle Hills agreement, signed five days earlier. The President said the developer's land would only be leased, not sold, and that "the land here is only rented, leased. It cannot be owned."

Where the land will go

About 500 hectares of Ras Malé are to be leased to Eagle Hills for its waterfront and marina district. The government's written statement on the deal said the other roughly 500 hectares would stay zoned for local housing, with room for more than 150,000 residents. In the interview, the President put the land kept for public housing plots at about 600 hectares. The two figures haven't been reconciled, and no land-use plan has been published to show the split. Water and electricity for Ras Malé and Gulhifalhu are covered by an agreement signed with China Machinery Engineering Group in January 2024.

How progress has moved

The 70% figure is the latest in a series of government updates:

• November 2025: about 183 hectares reclaimed, according to HDC
• February 2026: Site A at 84.36%, with 116 of its 137.5 hectares reclaimed, according to MACL
• 31 March 2026: nearly 500 hectares, with work on 11 sites
• June 2026: about 60%, after a slowdown blamed on rising fuel costs
• September 2026: about 70%

The pace slowed between March and September. Rising fuel prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East held up dredging in mid-2026, and the government acknowledged that the original completion date would be missed.

What else the President said

In the same interview, the President described the conflict in the Middle East as the biggest obstacle to the government's development projects and its 20-year national master plan. Rising fuel prices linked to the conflict had already slowed the dredging in mid-2026. He said that once MTCC's new dredger arrived, projects given to the company that hadn't yet started would move forward quickly. He also said the planned merger of MTCC with another state company, RDC, should speed up projects from next year. He didn't say whether the new dredger would work at Ras Malé.

Can the end-of-year target be met?

Ras Malé's record on deadlines is mixed. At the launch in December 2023, reclamation was expected to take months. In November 2025, the government expected it to finish in March or April 2026. In December 2025, MACL aimed for early 2026. In June 2026, the President said the original date would be missed, but the work would finish within 2026.

The pace in 2026 has been much faster than before. Between the start of December 2025 and mid-February 2026, MACL's dredger reclaimed 116 hectares at Site A alone. But progress also slowed in the middle of the year, from about 500 hectares in March to about 60% in June and 70% in September. Whether the last 30% can be done in about three months depends on how many dredgers keep working, and on fuel prices.

Who is doing the work

Several contractors are working at once. The state-owned Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has been reclaiming Site A since December 2025, using the Cristóbal Colón, which carries 46,000 cubic metres of sand per load. China Harbour Engineering Company has been working on Sites C and E since August 2025, with the Jun Yang 1. Earlier work on Sites D, F, G and L was carried out by Mohan Mutha Exports and CRCC. Our article on who has built Ras Malé has the full story.

A note on the figures

The percentages come from the government, and they haven't always been given against the same total. Published totals for Ras Malé range from about 1,009 hectares (the land to be reclaimed, according to HDC) to 1,153 hectares (the whole lagoon). This time, the President gave about 1,100 hectares. We haven't found an independent survey of how much land has been reclaimed. When HDC or MACL publish site-by-site figures, we'll add them to the tracker.

The President didn't give a hectare figure this time. If the 70% is measured against the roughly 1,009 hectares HDC lists, it would mean about 700 hectares. Measured against the 1,100 hectares he described, it would be about 770. That's our own arithmetic, not an official figure, and it's why we'd like to see the hectares published alongside the percentage.

What 70% doesn't mean

Reclaimed land isn't the same as land ready for homes. After the sand is pumped in, each site needs coastal protection and time to settle, then roads, power, water and sewerage. The President said work on utilities and roads would begin before the end of 2026, and that the wider city would take about 10 years. For how each site moves through those stages, see Ras Malé site by site. For the ships doing the work, read the dredgers building Ras Malé.

What to watch

• Whether the end-of-2026 target holds, and when the new MTCC dredger starts work.
• The start of utilities and road works, which would be the first sign of building on the new land.
• Updated site-by-site figures from HDC or MACL. We haven't found any published since February 2026.
• A published land-use plan showing where the housing plots and the Eagle Hills district will go.

For every deadline so far and what has to happen after the dredging stops, see our Ras Malé timeline.