Malé, Maldives – President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has responded to the policy of taking over private taxis from the government and giving drivers other jobs proposed by Speaker Mohamed Nasheed.
As part of the MDP’s presidential primary campaign, Nasheed met with taxi drivers on Thursday and announced his intention to take over the taxis to solve the congestion problem in the city.
His proposed policy is to set a limit on the number of taxis that can be driven and buy the excess taxis from the government, he said. He also said on the day that he intends to teach drivers other skills and give them jobs such as bus driving.
Responding to Nasheed’s policies at a rally held in B. Eydhafushi, President Solih said people should think about what his rivals sometimes say.
President Solih said the government should not interfere in private businesses but that Nasheed has met with taxi drivers in Malé City and talked about taking taxis to the government.
The President said the government should find new taxis for drivers and hand over new cars to them so that they can pay for them over a long time.
During this year, the government will bring in cars to be issued to taxi drivers on a long-term basis, he said.
At a meeting with taxi drivers on Thursday, Nasheed said there were about 1,500 taxis in the city and the number of taxis should be kept at a certain level to solve the problem of congestion.
