Mayor Azim looking to cancel fish market contracts ‘signed during President’s mayorship’

Male’ City Mayor Adam Azim says the city council is looking to see if they can terminate the contracts awarded to two different companies to develop the fish market in the capital city back during President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s mayorship.

The Infrastructure Ministry has announced a mega project to develop a six-story wet market complex where the fish market is currently located.

The ministry said that funding had been arranged and the contractor was ready to start construction, but that the project remained on hold due to the failure of the city council to hand over the land.

Meanwhile, the city council blames the holdup in the land handover due to because of two separate contracts awarded in the past to develop the projects, creating a legal quagmire.

Azim told Sun on Tuesday that the city council is working to see if it can terminate the contracts so the land can be handed over to the ministry.

“We cannot handover a land that has already been awarded to another party, right? Our current plan is to cancel the two contracts, and hand over the land to the government, the ministry,” he said.

The original USD 6.1 million contract for the fish market project was awarded through a competitive bidding process back when President Muizzu served as the city’s mayor. But during the transitional period between when President Muizzu won the 2023 presidential election and took office and before incumbent Mayor Adam Azim won the January 2024 by-election, the city council cancelled the original contract and awarded the project to a new party for a higher price of USD 9.6 million.

The issue gained media attention in August 2025 after Azim voiced concern during a city council meeting that the new contract lacked any paperwork showing how it got approved, was overvalued, and include terms that are highly unfavorable to the council.

Azim said that the council risked losing ownership of the land due to a clause in the second contract that stipulates that the council will forfeit the rights to the land to the contractor if it was unable to settle the full payment.

The council attempted to hold meetings to resolve the issue. But the meetings were cancelled due to lack of quorum.

This was when the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) held a majority in the council. But the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has since taken control of the council with the April elections.

The Infrastructure Ministry plans to run an MVR 117 million project to develop a six-story wet market complex where the fish market is currently located.