The Mayor of Male' City, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has revealed that the central government has continuously excluded the Male' City Council from all policy deliberations and decisions on housing.
In his remarks at Tuesday night's Second Public Consultation of the Male' City Council, the Mayor emphasised that the Decentralisation Act stipulated that the City Council must be a stakeholder in policymaking, but that, from the onset, the government had been refusing to engage with them, including on matters of critical importance such as the provision of housing for the city's needy residents. "Very few ministries and government companies invite us to policy discussions, and none are at the top level and on the most important issues for the people", he pointed out.
Dr. Mohamed Muizzu expressed his regret at being cold-shouldered in any effort to provide housing for the city's residents. Emphasising that housing also fell under their mandate, the Mayor said that the City Council had a greater understanding of the needs of the people and would have been able to share important policy advise with government authorities on this matter.
"Over the past 14 months, we have lobbied the government repeatedly to provide adequate housing for the people, including more viable proposals to allocate residential plots from Greater Male'", Dr. Muizzu recalled. He said that the City Council had requested the government to increase the number of housing plot allocation from Hulhumale' Phase II, including identifying allocations from the current land use plan. Furthermore, he said that the current plan would only serve a small percentage of the needy population.
The Mayor of Male' also revealed that, following a request by the government, the City Council were finalising plans to assist residents in completing their application documentation for the new housing plot scheme.