News Desk
MALÉ — Despite collecting substantial annual revenue, the Malé City Council lacks the capacity to maintain and repair the capital’s roads, Minister of Construction and Infrastructure Dr Abdulla Muththalib told Majlis on Monday, appealing to lawmakers to redirect vehicle fee proceeds back into the state budget.
Responding to a question on the floor, Dr Muththalib noted that the city council generates approximately 150 million Rufiyaa annually solely from annual fees levied on vehicles operating in Malé and Hulhumalé.
However, the minister questioned how those funds were being deployed, pointing out that while road construction and maintenance fall directly under local council mandates, the municipality has failed to build the necessary technical capacity to carry out the work. Generating 150 million Rufiyaa in revenue without developing the infrastructure to asphalt or repair roads amounts to a fundamental neglect of duty, he argued.
Dr Muththalib highlighted that while the city council routinely grants permits to cut into paved roads for utility and development work, it consistently fails to restore the damaged surfaces afterwards. When key thoroughfares such as Ameenee Magu and the ring road deteriorate, the government is forced to step in and fund repairs through state-owned enterprise MTCC — a cycle that ultimately penalises the public, he added.
The ministry had previously drafted clear road maintenance standards and shared them with local authorities, the minister revealed, though the guidelines have gone largely unheeded.
Facing growing public frustration over the dire condition of Malé’s streets, the government has recently taken direct charge of repair works on Ameenee Magu and the outer ring road.
Dr Muththalib assured lawmakers that if the legislature enables vehicle fee revenues to flow into the treasury instead, the administration could execute road development projects far more swiftly and efficiently.
