Councilor for the Galolhu North Constituency, Mohamed Saif Fathih today said that the government's refusal to authorise the Land Use Plan of Male' City is currently the only hurdle in the path of the Male' City Council from putting up much-needed parking buildings in assigned vacant lots across the city.
"Our plan was to put up eight parking buildings, and it would have gone a long way towards alleviating the parking issues facing the capital city at the moment. These parking buildings also feature among the pledges in the Mayor's five-year Stategic Action Plan. Sadly, we have not been able to move ahead with this key initiative."
Saifs said that it was important to increase parking slots if and when an existing parking area is taken by the government for other developments. He added that he is not necessarily against issuing parking fine sticker for violations, but that it must not be done so before finding adequate additional parking spaces to facilitate people. Furthermore, the Councilor questioned the motive of the government in delaying the approval of the Land Use Plan. "There is no budgetary implication for the government, so this delay is nothing but an inconvenience for the public", he noted.
Elaborating on the issue, Councilor Saif reasoned that the government's refusal to cooperate with the Male' City Council was nothing but petty politics, as the majority of Councilors represented the opposition PPM, and that he and others from the ruling party were being penalised for speaking out against the government's failures. "The result is that a key measure such as the Land Use Plan has been parked indefinitely", he added.
"The Land Use Plan has been frozen. We get no cooperation from the government for anything. They have effectively put a padlock on the Male' City Council."
Speaking at the 86th sitting of the Male' City Council, Mohamed Saif Fathih said that the government had been obstructing every measure by MCC to improve the lives of the people. "We are unable to fulfill our legal obligations", he said.
Saif said that the discrimination against the Male' City Council was blatant.
"We see that new residential plots can be awarded in Addu City in a late night party rally. To my knowledge, they do not face any issues related to Land Use Plan approval. It is just us. It appears that Land Use Plans are approved only in times of elections, when the President needs votes."