City council begins clearing Male’ streets of abandoned vehicles

The Male’ City Council has begun clearing the Maldivian capital of old and abandoned vehicles parked in the streets.

The city council’s spokesperson Aminath Shathufa Shafeeu told Sun on Saturday morning that there are a lot of old and unused vehicles that have been parked on the streets of Male’ for years. She said that some of these vehicles have been stripped of their engines.

She noted that these vehicles take up a lot of street space in a city that already faces a shortage of parking space.

Shathufa said that the initiative launched on Saturday seeks to clear the streets of all abandoned vehicles.

“This initiative will continue. There are a lot of cars in the streets of Male’ that are just junk,” she said.

Shathufa said that the owners of the vehicles that are towed will be given a notice to go collect it if they wish. The unclaimed vehicles will be disposed of in accordance with regulations.

“That will be carried out by the police,” she said.

In a statement in July, the Transport Ministry said that parked vehicles occupy 65 percent of the streets of Male’ City. It said that it was contributing to road accidents.

The Male’ City Council, in collaboration with the Transport Ministry and other relevant agencies, had run initiatives to clear the streets in the past. In March, the ministry said that 261 vehicles had been disposed of.