President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has said that work on two parking buildings will begin this year, to provide a permanent solution to the parking crisis facing Malé.

Speaking on the fourth episode of “The Pulse” podcast, the President said that parking building projects had previously been planned to go ahead with foreign assistance, and that this was the reason the work had been delayed. However, the government has now decided to fund the projects from the state budget, and work on two buildings will begin this year, he noted. He added that physical work has already begun on some parking buildings, and once these are completed, the problem of on-street parking will be significantly eased.

Turning to Malé’s traffic difficulties, the President said the project to develop Boduthakurufaanu Magu to a modern standard is nearing completion, and the road is scheduled to be opened to the public within the coming week. He said that with this change, congestion on Malé’s internal roads will be greatly reduced.

Speaking about the root causes of Malé’s overcrowding, the President said that Malé had become so congested because of the way the Maldives’ development had been structured in the past. As a permanent solution to the problem, work has now begun to establish urban centres in various regions of the country, he noted.

“This is an issue that needs to be tackled at the root cause. By root cause, I mean the reason people have to crowd into Malé. That’s why we launched the regional development projects. Because it’s something that can’t be solved in two or three years, the results are not visible,” the President said.

He added that once the urban centres are developed, residents of Malé will begin moving to those areas, and that this is the real solution to the overcrowding problem.