The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) announced today that the installation of additional elevators in four of the Hiyaa Towers will be completed within the next two months. According to an HDC Media Official, efforts are underway to install additional lifts in all sixteen towers, with the foundation already laid in all buildings and installation work currently in progress.

The installation of these additional lifts comes in response to ongoing complaints from Hiyaa Tower residents regarding the insufficient number of elevators in each 25-storey tower, causing significant inconvenience when accessing upper floors. To resolve this issue, HDC contracted China’s Shenyang Yuanda Intellectual Industry Group Co., Ltd. in February last year to carry out the lift installations.

The first four towers where lift installation will be completed are H1 to H4, with two lifts being installed in each tower. The HDC official assured that this work would be completed before the end of April. However, no completion date has been set for the remaining towers.

The installation of the 32 additional lifts is expected to cost USD 18 million (MVR 278 million), according to former HDC Managing Director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed. Each tower will feature one lift with the capacity to carry stretchers, while the remaining lifts will accommodate 14 people each.

Currently, most Hiyaa Towers have three lifts, with a few having four, which residents argue is insufficient for the approximately 40,000 people living in the complex.