Inside the local fish market in Male' City on April 12, 2021. (Sun Photo/Fayaz Moosa)
The city council signed two contracts to redevelop the fish market in Male’ City, but the person who authorized the latter one or how is unclear, says Mayor Adam Azim.
Sharing updates on the fish market project in a city council meeting on Wednesday, Azim said that the holdup in the launch of the project is because it is in “major disarray.”
According to Azim, the fish market contract was amended from USD 6.1 million to USD 9.6 million and then awarded to a new party without council approval during the transitional period in 2023, after President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu won the presidential election, but before Azim got elected in the council byelection that followed.
“I believe the latter contract was formed in a manner that is very damaging to the council. This contract was signed by the council’s legal counsel Ali Naseer [Qasim],” he said.
Azim said that the reason for a new contract is unclear.
“I sent a memo to the signatory asking them to explain to me the reason for entering the second contract. Asking on what basis and how this was signed. On whose authority? Where are the decisions of the bid committee?” he said.
Azim said that USD 9.6 million isn’t even something the city council can afford to pay.
“I’m talking about things that took place during the transitional period, after the President got elected and before I got elected here,” he said.
“As per the terms of the contract, they can claim ownership of the whole building if we are unable to pay them. We cannot build a fish market there. Nor a local market. This is very regrettable,” he said.
Azim added that the contract number written in both contracts in the same, and there is no paperwork on how the second contract came to be.
He said that this is the reason for the delay in the project.
Azim added that the contract also does not cover the construction of some 200 temporary stalls to relocate the fish market until the new one is built, with a separate MVR 2.1 million contract awarded to a party for this task.
Deputy Mayor Mohamed Areesh said the project had gone right during President Muizzu’s mayorship, and that it was only after he left that this took place.
This is exactly why I incessantly demand mayor @adamazim to make public all @MaleCitymv contracts: service, procurement, lease, consultancy.
— Saif Fathih (@aekofathih) August 20, 2025
Today mayor told the council that during the mayoral transition, the Malé Fish Market contract was amended from $6.1M to $9.6M and… pic.twitter.com/q3Q1rgsOQo
Councilman Mohamed Saif Fathih voiced concern over other contracts that might have been awarded in a similar manner.
He re-iterated his call to Azim to make all city council contracts public.