Malé, Maldives – Malé City Council has stated that the current government has stopped the efforts of the previous government to reduce the impact of storm surges to Malé City during the high wave season.
Speaking to a local media about the city council’s plans to protect the affected areas, Henveiru central constituency Councilor Adam Rameez said the previous government had started laying interlocking seawall blocks in the area most affected and that this government has stopped it.
Yesterdays tidal surges had caused severe flooding in the Carnival area with some of the roads nearby also being affected.
“This government has stopped the project to lay huge boulders there. If it had not stopped, if the huge boulders had been laid in the area, there would not have been so much damage,” Rameez said.
Ramiz said the land allocated for the project has been handed over to the city council as well.
Extensive flooding at the Alimas Carnival on Saturday due to the swells forced the closure of the ground floor of the Dolphin Café, and damaged vehicles parked in the area.
The city council also added that they will start cleaning up the affected area once the surges stop. City council has built a wall in the Salman Mosque area which is next to the carnival area to mitigate the damage caused by the tidal surges.
Malé City Councils accusations against the current government comes while Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Ministry of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure of Maldives recently signed an agreement to carry out survey for the upgrading of Malé seawall and storm water drainage system.
