Malé City Council denies involvement in Velanaage parking issue

The Malé City Council has quickly defended itself from the Velanaage parking space controversy.

On Tuesday, civil service staff protested outside Velanaage, the government office complex located in Malé, after a strategic parking zone was closed off without prior notice, causing massive inconveniences for the hundreds of people that work in the building. At the time, it was unclear who was responsible.

The Malé City Council tweeted a clarification of the matter: "The parking lot between Velanaage and Dharumavantha School was closed off, and the vehicles in that area were towed without our knowledge. Malé City Council was not informed, nor did [the authorities] seek permission from us before closing off the area and commencing work. We would like to refute all claims that the work being carried out there was initiated by the Council," the tweet in two parts said.

A short while later, the Maldives Police Service clarified the matter via Twitter, saying that they closed off the area upon the request of the Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, to carry out some work. The type of work was not specified.

Malé City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu thanked the police for the clarification.

However, when Mihaaru News inquired about the matter earlier in the day, the police initially said that it was closed off per the council’s request.

"The area has been closed off because the city council wants to disassemble the mechanical parking system there," an official from the police said.

Hours later, the police clarified the matter and officially announced that the area was closed off at the request of the planning ministry.

The mechanical parking system near Velanaage was placed there in 2017. It was tested and used for a couple of weeks, but the mechanism did not appear to be popular in Malé, and it has not been used in many years.