Minister criticizes councils in Male’ and Addu for failing to utilize block grant to maintain roads

Housing Minister Dr. Abdulla Muthalib criticized the city councils in Addu and Male’ on Wednesday, accusing the institutions of failure to uphold their legal duties.

Muthalib, who was summoned to the Parliament on Wednesday morning, was questioned by Maradhoo MP Ahmed Didi (Pele) regarding the progress on the project to redevelop the Addu link road.

Muthalib responded that the project has now been contracted to the Road Development Corporation (RDC), and that practical works will begin soon.

He also criticized councils for failure to maintain roads.

Muthalib said that maintaining roads isn’t the responsibility of a government ministry, but that of local councils.

“It is not the responsibility of a government ministry to manage and maintain roads in islands. That is the responsibility of the elected council there,” he said.

Muthalib said that though councils are given hundreds of millions of Rufiyaa in block grants each year, these funds aren’t being utilized for the benefit of the constituents they serve.

He questioned whether councils do any actual work, beyond talking to the people.

Muthalib also accused the Male’ City Council of being uncooperative in the project to redevelop Boduthakurufaanu Magu – the ring road around the capital city. He said that the council failed to respond to repeated letters asking to have a market removed in order to expand the road, forcing the contractor to finish the section without a pavement.

And criticizing the Addu City Council, Muthalib said that he believes a council that lacks the capacity to even fill small potholes, despite receiving huge funding from the state, is a failure.

“It is the responsibility of the elected council to maintain and manage the roads in the island. Therefore, I believe that if the Addu City Council, despite receiving hundreds of millions of Rufiyaa from the state, does not even have the mechanism to fix potholes in roads, then the council has failed,” he said.

Responding to these remarks, Addu City Mayor Ali Nizar said Muthalib knows nothing about the Addu link road.

He said that the minister’s criticism isn’t based on any understanding of the realities on the ground.

Nizar said that the Addu link road is severely damaged. He also said that the RDC hasn’t done any work on the road despite being assigned the task one-and-a-half years ago.

“Does he know anything about the actual situation here when he blamed the Addu City Council at the Parliament. He does not know anything about the situation here. When he talks about the grant issued to councils, the grant isn’t enough to even cover the salaries of the staff. We do everything by generating our own income. The council is doing repair works on roads. And that too is being done with the income we generate,” he said.

The criticism comes less than two weeks after the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) secured a majority in city councils in both Male’ and Addu in the recent council elections, with incumbent mayors from the MDP defending their seats.