Azim pledges to disclose land lease details in 2 months

Mayor of Malé, Adam Azim, announced on Wednesday that the details of all land leased by the Malé City Council will be made public within the next two months.

The announcement comes in response to repeated requests by Galolhu North Constituency Councillor Mohamed Saif Fathih for information regarding land leased to Mayor Azim and others without formal council approval.

Saif stated that since September last year, he had asked Mayor Azim multiple times for records of short-term and long-term land leases within Malé. However, he noted that the information has not yet been shared.

During a council meeting held at the Malé City Council office, Mayor Azim said the council had not conducted a land audit or maintained a land register for the past 15 years. He stated that the process is currently ongoing.

“Within the next two months, I will disclose to you the details of all the land that has been leased out in the city — to whom, for what purpose, for what rent, and for how long,” said Azim.

Azim also stated the following:

“I assure you that in the future you will see no agreement that will not be seen by the public or the council,” he added.

According to current procedures, any decision to lease or develop land within Malé, for either short or long term, must be submitted to the council floor and approved by a majority vote.

Despite this, Saif recently raised concerns that land is still being leased without council approval by a small committee appointed by the mayor. He claimed that Mayor Azim, who has been in office for 553 days, has not made the land register public as required by law.

Azim stated that the delay in disclosing the information was mainly due to the Housing Ministry not recording documents that were taken following a previous city council decision.