The number of vehicles registered in a day in Malé has been reduced from 200 to 20.
Speaking at a ceremony held yesterday to launch an urban transport masterplan for the Malé region, Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen said the number of land vehicles registered daily has been significantly reduced as part of efforts to solve traffic congestion in Malé.
"As a result of measures we have taken, we have been able to greatly reduce [the number of vehicle registrations]. It has been reduced to 30 or about 20 vehicles a day," Minister Ameen said.
The minister said the reduction of the number of vehicles registered was significant progress made so far.
"If vehicles go out in the numbers registered before, the current situation would be even more dangerous for us, or this Malé area would change to an unliveable state," the minister said.
There were 10,000 vehicles per square kilometer in Malé, former Environment Minister Aminath Shauna said during former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's government, which also attempted to control the import of vehicles.
Bringing a positive change to Malé's vehicle problem is an aim of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. The Malé urban transport masterplan announced on Monday is a large project launched towards that end.
The masterplan seeks to improve communication between government agencies and facilitate an environment-friendly transport system. It would also seek to resolve problems after identifying legal and implementation challenges faced by agencies in relation to current policies and programs.
Formulating a public transport roadmap in a manner that minimizes congestion in Malé under programs conducted to develop the transport system, and identifying steps that can be taken to reduce congestion in the design of roads would be undertaken.
Options to replace existing vehicles are also to be explored, including the possibility of trams or trains on the Malé-Thilafushi bridge and setting an age limit for vehicles.
