Islamic Minister Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali stated today that the decision has been made to demolish the temporary structure on the land of Zikura mosque and build a large mosque at the site.
A temporary mosque was opened and began being used on the Zikura mosque land in 2021. The Minister said that generous assistance has been secured to build a large modern mosque in place of Zikura mosque, which has stood as a temporary mosque on Malé’s Majeedhee Magu for a long time.
The Minister stated that the donors have requested to lay the foundation stone for the construction of a mosque on that land on the 27th night of this Ramadan. He also mentioned that the decision has been made to begin the work of demolishing the temporary mosque once the month of Ramadan ends.
The construction of this mosque was first awarded in 2018 to SJ Construction, which has a long history associated with Zikura mosque.
During President Abdulla Yameen’s government, it was decided to demolish Zikura mosque, which was built in memory of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s father, and build a 10-story building named "Darul Zikura" in its place. Under that decision, an agreement was signed between the Islamic Ministry and SJ Company for a total project value of MVR 130 million.
However, both parties went to court over the issue of the termination of that agreement. In that case, both parties eventually agreed that SJ would build a mosque in Hulhumalé Phase 2 at its own expense as compensation. That mosque in Hulhumalé 2 is being built under a settlement agreement between SJ Construction and the Islamic Ministry.
That agreement was made after the company submitted a claim for MVR 141 million in damages following the termination of the agreement to build Zikura mosque.
Subsequently, the Attorney General’s (AG) Office also filed a court case to recover the MVR 30 million given to SJ to build Zikura mosque.
However, with the advice of the AG Office, the matter was settled out of court at that time by agreeing to build a mosque in Hulhumalé, with any costs exceeding MVR 30 million to build that mosque being covered under SJ’s CSR.
Even though two years have passed since then, SJ has not completed the mosque being built in Phase 2.
