The Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development, the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure, and the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy have resumed operations after temporarily suspending services due to the fire that destroyed the Housing Ministry building on December 12.

The affected Ministries have relocated their services to Dharubaaruge and recommenced operations at 8:00 a.m. today.

During a press conference at Dharubaaruge, Construction Minister Dr Abdulla Muththalib addressed concerns regarding data loss following the incident. He assured the public that an investigation had confirmed all essential data had been backed up. No information pertaining to housing projects or applications for the Government's new loan scheme was compromised.

Police Commissioner Ali Shujau also provided an update on the ongoing investigation into the fire. Whilst the cause remains unclear, he confirmed that an international team is assisting with the investigation.

Measures are being taken to ensure the international team collaborates with local investigators within the next two to three days. The objective is to determine the cause of the fire and gather information that could help prevent similar incidents in future.