The Malé City Council decided today not to hand over the land for the construction of the Malé fish market to the Ministry of Infrastructure unless it is done within the boundaries of the law and regulations.
At the council meeting held today, the Mayor of Malé, Adam Azim, stated that the Ministry of Infrastructure had sent a letter requesting the handover of the land to the Ministry of Fisheries for the construction of the fish market.
Deciding on a course of action regarding the matter at the council meeting, the Mayor stated that the site is one that was signed over to two companies for construction during the previous term.
Mayor Azim stated that the land cannot be given to another party without first canceling that contract. He also mentioned that all relevant information regarding this matter has been shared with the pertinent government institutions.
"A land that is handed over to another party cannot be given to a second party without canceling that contract. While knowing that the matter stands as such, without even consulting the City Council, making an agreement to give a land that is not in their possession to another group, and having the Housing Minister sign on behalf of the government, is in my view a highly unlawful act," Azim said.
At today's meeting, the Mayor proposed not to hand over the land unless the council receives the information specified in the letter from the Ministry of Infrastructure. The Mayor also decided that if the information is not received, the decision will stand not to hand over the land.
The council has decided to meet with the ministry and work towards finding an effective solution to this issue. Furthermore, all councilors decided to continue the work without halting until cooperation is received from the ministry for the matter.
The project to develop the Malé Wet Market Complex with modern facilities was handed over to Trusteng Maldives on March 15 last year.
The Ministry of Infrastructure previously stated that it had sent letters to the City Council on four separate occasions requesting the handover of the land to commence the project. However, it noted that the land had not been handed over.
The value of the project, which is decided to be carried out under a contractor finance model, is MVR 117 million. Under the project, which was handed over to be completed within two years, the repayment of funds is scheduled to be distributed over 50 months. When the work on the place is fully completed, it will be built up to six stories and will provide a space of 85,000 square feet.
