President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has said the work to construct two parking buildings in Male' will begin this year. The buildings are meant to solve the parking issue in Male'.
While answering a question that was asked on the government's weekly Friday podcast "The Pulse" regarding whether there is a plan to decrease the number of vehicles being imported to Male' in order to reduce congestion, President Muizzu said he does not think the reduction would be enough to solve the congestion issue.
While highlighting that the issue must be tackled at its core, the President said congestion in Male' is occurring due to how Maldives' development has been designed. And so, the President stated work is being done to establish urban centers and once they are developed, residents of Male' will begin living there.
According to the President, it is not something that will see results in two to three years, but they are still working on it.
"This is a matter we need to get to the root cause of. When I say root cause, I mean the reason why congestion in Male' occurs, which is because of the way the development of Maldives has been designed recently. This is why regional development projects were started. There are no results because it is not something that can be solved within two to three years," said President Muizzu.
The President went on to say when the issue is solved, congestion in Male' will follow, with the number of vehicles decreasing as well.
"If the number of people do not increase, then the number of vehicles will not increase," said the President.
Even so, the President stated that work is being done regarding road repair to make it easier for residents of Male' and on the parking issue as well. He also stated the work to construct two parking buildings in Male' will begin this year.
President Muizzu by saying the project is currently at a standstill in order to acquire financing from foreign parties. However, he said he does not have any intention of delaying the project further.
"Hopefully, we will begin construction of at least two parking buildings within the coming days. This project has taken quite some time. Our first step was to see if we can get foreign aid for the project. But we do not want to delay any further," said President Muizzu on the podcast.
"We will construct two parking buildings in Male'. Work on around four buildings has already begun in Hulhumale'. The project will see some solutions to the parking issue," the President said.
In March 2026, Batch Construction was awarded the project for building four parking buildings in Hulhumale'.
Batch Construction is to build the 13-storey parking structure at Hulhumale' Phase 1. More than 500 parking spots for two-wheeled vehicles and more than 800 parking spots for four-wheeled vehicles will be included. This is the largest of the four parking buildings that will be built there.
As per Batch Construction, the parking structures will be built in accordance to the codes followed by other countries, and priority will be placed on traffic flow and will include a commercial space.
