The Minister of National Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam travelled to Addu City late Saturday night, where he will be based for some time to oversee and expedite the ongoing development projects in the Maldives’ southernmost city.
Addu City Mayor Ali Nizar told Mihaaru News that the minister was on the job, conducting meetings by 9:00 a.m. on Sunday. He met the contractor for the road development project in the city, Afcons Infrastructure, along with the project consultant, which is the Addu City Council.
"Everything is going well; Aslam is meeting with the relevant stakeholders and finding solutions to problems already," Mayor Nizar said.
The local stakeholders had previously met with Afcons Infrastructure to discuss public concerns; however, the meetings did not yield any productive outcomes. The minister, therefore, decided to temporarily relocate to Addu City until all major issues had been resolved. He made this decision public during a parliament sitting last Wednesday.
"I think Aslam will stay in Addu for a bit," the city’s Mayor said.
Minister Aslam did not reveal when he would be returning to Malé.
Addu residents expressed discontent over the way road construction was being carried out. In parliament, Minister Aslam stated that residents were concerned that all roads were being dug at the same time. This created potholes on the road, which have been causing damage to people’s vehicles and, occasionally, injuring people too.
The issue of Addu City road development escalated further when pavements were constructed wider, leaving narrower lanes for vehicles to drive on.
Afcons Infrastructure was awarded the project to develop 107 kilometres of road in Addu City on February 2021. They were given two years to complete the project. It is funded by a MVR 800 million line of credit provided by India’s Exim Bank, of which MVR 1.2 million was allocated for the project.
The road development work in Addu City officially commenced on February 18, 2022.
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