Public plots for garbage collection: Malé's land giveaway exposed

This is what Malé's long-awaited land plot list – buried for nearly two years – reveals.

As mayor of Malé from May 17, 2021 to November 17, 2023, Muizzu handed out 47 plots in the congested capital city (excluding Vilimalé and Hulhumalé). Even with missing data on some plots, such as size and rent, the list confirms the lease of at least 118,511 square feet for a total of MVR 2.9 million as monthly rent. The average lease period was 17 years.

Much of this land was granted in exchange for routine maintenance or vague promises of future investment. But tasks such as cleaning, garbage disposal, and general upkeep are the Malé City Council's own responsibilities. They do not justify doling out valuable public land to private parties. Council staff already carry out these duties using council resources and equipment.

Yet companies, often those with political ties, received plots in artificial beach and other prime areas, while many of the promised investments never materialised. Tuckshops have been built, but the contractual obligations attached to these leases are largely ignored.

This raises serious questions.

These deals appear to be little more than excuses to distribute public land cheaply.

The valuation discrepancies are staggering. One example is T and C Pvt Ltd, which has a 2,026 square foot plot at Alimas Carnival for a monthly rent of MVR 29,260 and an upfront payment of MVR 500,000 for a 20-year term. The very next day, a plot of the same size, under the same conditions, was given to Saleco Pvt Ltd for just MVR 10,000 per month. Disparities of this scale are impossible to defend.

I last wrote about the land plots of Malé on August 3, 2025. 

The list was finally published on November 20 – 678 days after Mayor Adam Azim from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party took office. The timing is unmistakable: the mayor released the list on the eve of his rival Ali Azim's campaign launch for the MDP's primary, where both are contesting the party's mayoral ticket. It is evident that he was politically cornered into fulfilling a legally-mandated obligation he had delayed for nearly two years.

Despite this, many of the mayor's supporters – mainly contract staff and consultants he appointed in unusually large numbers, along with their bot accounts – mocked me on social media and insisted that I should now praise him for finally complying with the law. Praising an elected official for doing the bare minimum, and doing so only after intense political pressure, is neither reasonable nor justifiable.

The ruling People's National Congress, which holds 14 of the 18 seats on the city council, reacted with anger to the publication. For two consecutive weeks, PNC councillors refused to attend the official weekly council meeting after the land plot issue was tabled.

Once the list became public, Deputy Mayor Ahmed Areesh launched attacks against the mayor in the council's official WhatsApp group, claiming that the list had been released without consultation and that the identities and details of leaseholders were improperly exposed. Both claims are false. The public has every right to know who received public land, on what terms, and for what purpose.

Reports have also emerged that MCC's Secretary General Abdul Muhaimin and senior staff, particularly those in the assets and land department, faced threats of dismissal and other forms of intimidation following the publication of this information.

Upon reviewing the list, I found widespread discrepancies in plot sizes, lease dates, and other basic details. Many entries are incomplete or internally inconsistent, and several lack essential information such as plot size.

For example, the lease held by Vasmeeru Holdings is recorded in the published list as 1,309 square feet, while a council letter sent to the company on October 30, 2025 states the size as 2,530 square feet. This is a difference of 1,221 square feet. Another case is Sprout MV, which holds a lease in Lonuziyaaraiy Park for a monthly rent of MVR 20,000 from June 2023 to 2033, with responsibilities that include park maintenance and cleaning at Raalhugandu. Yet the published list omits the size of their plot.

These gaps significantly limit transparency. I encourage members of the public who are aware of missing information or inconsistencies to come forward and contact me or the council. 

Cross-check the records yourself from our detailed spreadsheet of all Malé land leases.  

It is astonishing that an MDP mayor sat on this information for two years. It is even more troubling that he has made no attempt to re-evaluate the value for money of these leases. There is little point in having elected an MDP mayor if none of this is addressed. I urge MDP's chairman and leadership to confront the consequences of Muizzu's land-plot giveaways and commit to re-examining and re-evaluating every single lease to protect the public interest.

The existence of a contract does not mean public land must remain undervalued or locked into poorly designed agreements. Even if compensation must be paid to reclaim certain plots, the long-term benefit to Malé City would far outweigh short-term costs.

In 2021, 2022, and 2023, a small committee appointed by then-mayor Dr Muizzu moved in secret to allocate several plots of public land. When I discovered these backroom arrangements, I filed formal complaints with parliament, the Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Local Government Authority. Nothing came of them. In June 2023, internal fractures within the PNC's majority on the city council created an opening, and I used that moment to propose amendments to the council's standing orders. These amendments required that any lease of public land, whether short term or long term, be decided openly and approved through a council vote. The amendment passed.

However, according to the list published on November 20, it is clear that 18 plots have been handed over even after the rules change – without a vote. There is absolutely no legal basis for these contracts to be valid. I am surprised that the mayor has not taken up this point in seeking to invalidate them. In my view, all contracts issued since June 2023 without a council vote are void ab initio.

As for the praise demanded by the mayor's supporters for his delayed compliance with the law, the individual who truly deserves credit is Ali Azim. His campaign launch forced the publication of information that had been withheld for nearly two years. Without that pressure, the list would likely still be hidden.

  

Saif Fathih is a columnist at the Maldives Independent and a serving member of the Malé City Council for Galolhu North. With his educational background in communications, international studies and public policy, he previously worked as a journalist, editor and public policy advisor, with roles including senior policy director at the ministry of national planning and editor of Ocean Weekly Magazine. Saif began his career as a radio producer and presenter at Minivan Radio, writer for Minivan Daily, and translator for the British High Commission and the European Union Mission to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He is also the host of Ithuru Vaahaka, the Maldives Independent podcast.