MDP proposes vehicle cap, ban street parking
President Solih criticixed the city council, which is run by rival candidate Muizz, as he spoke of his plans to solve road congestion in the city.
By
Fathmath Ahmed Shareef
The MDP presidential candidate, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, has included special policies in this year's manifesto to set a maximum number of vehicles within Male, remove parking from the streets and ease the traffic congestion on the streets of Male.
President Solih on Friday announced that parking slots sold under PPM-PNC presidential candidate Dr Mohamed Muizz, who is currently the mayor of Male city, will be revoked. He said that “there will be no room for campaigning by selling the streets of Male city" as was done with islands and lagoons during former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's tenure.
The 'Ufaaveri Male' manifesto, which includes proposals for Male, was released on Friday. The manifesto, released at a special rally held at the carnival area, includes 10 promises to bring about changes to the streets of the city during President Solih's second term.
Most notable is the cap on the number of vehicles used in the city area and the restriction of street parking to reduce congestion in the city.
According to the manifesto, the changes are:
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Introduce a rebate rule to reduce old vehicles
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Introduction of special school buses for school children
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Adding two lanes to Sinamale Bridge and introducing light train services; the train is planned to be extended to the entire Male area
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Introduction of modern public transport system in the Male area
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Develop a master plan to phase out vehicles
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Implementation of a project to modernise the roads of the city
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Introduce pedestrian-friendly streets
The president said in the second term that the idea is to vacate parking on the streets and create special parking spaces for four-wheelers. He also said that he intends to introduce special neighborhood parking for motorcycles.
Speaking at the Friday rally, President Solih criticized the city council, which is run by rival candidate Muizz, as he spoke of his plans to solve road congestion in the city if he gets a second term. He noted that roads are a responsibility of the council under the Decentralization Act.
"Look at these visible places in front of you. Here are the slots that have been sold for parking. For parking slots, money has been taken in advance. The streets of the city have been sold and emptied today like they did to our islands and lagoons. We have to change this in the next term," he said.
“There will be no room for campaigning by selling the streets of Male city”.
The city council opened for parking spaces in February last year. The slots are available for a maximum of one year on a monthly fee basis. Each person can apply for a slot in three different areas.
Parking is provided:
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For taxis - MVR 650 per month.
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For private cars - MVR 1,500 per month.
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For companies - MVR 3,000 per month.
Many people applied for the slots and the winners have now been given the slots. Some have expressed concern that many of these slots have been given in areas where many people usually park their motorcycles.
Earlier, Muizz had said that he had noticed issues with slots being sold from motorcycle parking zones. Muizz had also said at the time that they were later withdrawn.
