Council agrees to hand over Male' fish market land to ministry on condition it be returned after redevelopment

The Male’ City Council passed a resolution on Monday, agreeing to hand over the land where the capital’s fish market is located to the Fisheries Ministry, on the condition that it be returned after development.

The resolution passed with a majority vote of 11 of 16 councilors during an emergency meeting on Monday. Five councilors abstained from the vote.

Speaking at the meeting, Mayor Adam Azim said that the existing fish market was too rundown, and poses a safety threat.

The resolution passed on Monday states that the Fisheries Ministry must return the property to the city council within 30 days of completing redevelopment works. It also asks the ministry to share design plans with the council, and to refrain from leasing out any part of the land.

The city council has decided that the project will be run after providing temporary stalls for vendors.

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.

Back on June 17, the city council decided to put the and transfer on hold until the Infrastructure Ministry disclosed the information it has requested.

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 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.