New amendments are being brought to transport laws that will see the number of vehicles imported and registered in the country limited to carrying capacities of each island.
Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen said that the ministry has forwarded amendments pertaining to vehicle registrations to the Attorney General's Office (AGO) in a bid to limit the number of vehicles that can be registered in inhabited islands in the country.
During a press conference held on Wednesday, the minister stated that the overwhelming issue of vehicle congestion in the country is due to the illegal registration of vehicles, which will no longer be entertained. He said that while motorcycles outnumber four-wheeled vehicles in Malé City, the number of motorcycles exceeds the city's carrying capacity.
However, he highlighted that implementing this change faces many challenges due to the current state of the law.
Citing examples, he noted that the law currently dictates that the motorcycle registration fee should be MVR 100. The minister said that experts also suggest that the law should allow the ministry to have the discretion to decide the registration fee.
"But when the law specifically states an amount, it becomes difficult or because it has no space to limit [the vehicle amount], [we] have sent [the law] to be amended to the Attorney General's Office," minister Ameen said.
He also added that the proposed amendments along with amendments to import-export laws and traffic regulations would bring about great ease to the issues currently faced.
As such, an amendment has been proposed to not categorise an imported vehicle as a vehicle under the law until it is registered, the minister said.
According to the law, local councils of each island are mandated to limit the number of vehicles that can be used and operated within the island. However, this is yet to be implemented in Malé City.
This carrying capacity has not been set in Malé city due to the challenges faced in having to comply with regulations set forth by the Transport Ministry, the Minister said. In order to resolve this, a new policy has been gazetted which invalidates the need for the ministry to create a regulation, and allows the city council to easily set the carrying capacity of the city, Minister Ameen said.
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