Mayor of Male' City Council Sifa Mohamed has stated the council has inherited millions in debts, as several electric bills are unpaid without a respective authority to take responsibility.
Speaking to a programme aired on PSM News, Mayor Sifa said the council was taken away from its mandated powers after transferring its responsibilities to various ministries, causing various management challenges to the council.
Sifa further said the council is still unable to clear out the issues it had faced. She also blamed the ministries for not having taken the responsibility of managing various tasks the city council used to do before the withdrawal. She further said the electric bills for street lighting and other government buildings and business have huge unpaid bills, describing it as a huge challenge the city council finds difficult to tackle.
The decision to liquidate Maldives Road Development Corporation (MRDC) by the previous administration was also a huge loss to the city council, according to the mayor. She said the council had made payments to MRDC to carry out road development projects in Male' when the company was liquidated.
Although the payments were settled, the project was not completed by the company. She remarked the city council had no idea how the funds were utilised.
As the city council marks its 9th anniversary, the public have been complaining and raising concerns on negligence of the city council in creating social unity and developing the necessary infrastructure in the capital city.