City council blames handover holdup on fish market land being awarded to two different companies by former councilors

The land where the Male’ fish market is located was awarded to two different companies by former councilors, stated the Male’ City Council on Thursday, responding to complaints by the Infrastructure Ministry that the project to modernize the fish market was on hold due to the failure of the council to hand over the land.

The city council says the project is embroiled in a legal quagmire.

According to the Infrastructure Ministry, it has sent four letters to the city council since March seeking to take over the land in order to develop a six-story wet market complex there.

The ministry said that funding had been arranged and the contractor was ready to start construction.

It said the only holdup was the failure of the city council to hand over the land.

City council’s spokesperson Aminath Shathufa told Sun that the land was awarded to two different companies during the previous term.

“Two separate contracts were signed. And one of the parties even had the blueprints approved. This happened before 2024, during the previous term,” she said.

The city council says they face legal obstacles in handing over a land which others have claims over.

The original USD 6.1 million contract for the fish market project was awarded through a competitive bidding process back when President Dr. Mohamed 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.

However, the city council states that it can only hand over the land after resolving the current legal quagmire.