President announces plans to make some roads vehicle-free

President Abdulla Yameen has announced plans to ban vehicles on some roads in Malé.

This was announced in his speech at a ceremony at Raalhugandu on Thursday evening, to inaugurate the second phase of the Hulhumalé Development Project.

He said that plans would be announced in about one week’s time to ease congestion and make Malé a calmer and more relaxing place, and the pilot project would focus on two areas, one of them being school areas in Malé.

President Yameen said that once the policies are in place, vehicles would not be allowed to enter narrow roads unless absolutely necessary, and the lanes would instead become playgrounds for children. Maldivians are used to parking their vehicles on the road directly outside their houses, he said, but efforts must be made to give up this habit.

Earlier, in an interview to Sun Online, Chairman of Transport Authority Abdul Rasheed Nafiz told Sun Online that work was ongoing to re-plan Malé.

He said that this includes establishing parking zones for the 49,605 vehicles presently in use in Malé, and the authority’s aim was to change parking space from 1.5 metres per vehicle, as it is now, to 2.5 per vehicle. To facilitate this, Transport Authority would soon restrict the number of vehicles allowed in Malé, said Nafiz.