Mayor of Male' City Adam Azim has said that Male' City Council's expenses toward public meetings have been heavily reduced, to an amount of MVR 1 million.

Public meetings held under the Decentralization Act have incurred MVR 1.1 million from the council this year, with this drawing criticism from the public when the expenses were publicized.

In response to the criticisms, Azim took to social media and stated that the two mandatory public meetings held in 2023 saw a total expense of MVR 2,050,520.

However, he said that the expense has been greatly reduced.

"For the meeting held in February 2026, MVR 567,839.34 was spent, with the July meeting seeing an expenditure of MVR 585,137.34. Expenditure from both meetings have been reduced compared to previous meetings," said Azim while expressing dissatisfaction in the way the news was portrayed by the media.

The issue that MVR 1.1 million had been spent this year by the Male' City Council for two meetings came to light when information had been obtained last month on the 20th under the Right to Information Act.

The largest expenditure was incurred for event management. In that regard, the work was awarded through bidding for MVR 360,000. Additionally, the information shows that MVR 135,000 was spent on preparing the video presentation for the meeting.

People have questioned as to whether the halls used for public meetings should be decorated as if a major ceremony was being held, and whether it should constitute such an exorbitant expense.

Under the Decentralization Act, two meetings are held each year to seek public opinion on the work done by the council. The first meeting must be held in February and the second meeting in July.