Transport Authority to restrict the number of vehicles in Male

The Transport Authority has said that it would soon set a limit on the number of vehicles that can be used in Male’, as part of its efforts to solve the problem of congestion on the roads in Male’.

Chairman of Transport Authority Abdul Rasheed Nafiz said that under a new policy that would be implemented soon, a limit would be set also on the number of years a vehicle can be used in Male’.

The Land Transport Act gives relevant authorities the power to set limits on the number of vehicles that can be used in every island.

“It’s impossible to drive a vehicle in Male’ now. You can see this if you go out in the evening during Ramadan. The parking areas are full. Traffic is constantly congested. So we have to take action to solve this problem,” he said.

Nafiz said that once a limit is put on the number of vehicles that can be used in Male’, permission will be given for additional vehicles only until this limit is reached.

“Even now, 20 to 30 cars are brought in on average per month. In addition, hundreds of motorcycles are brought in every month. Once the regulation is imposed, we will maintain a limit. Even if a vehicle is imported, it can only be registered if this limit is not exceeded. Otherwise this can never be controlled,” he said.

Nafiz said that the limit would be decided after considering the parking spaces available in Male’.

“We presently have a regulation which states that vehicles that are older than 5 years from the date of manufacture cannot be brought in. And now we’ve decided that taxis that are older than 20 years will not be given permission. In the future, vehicles that older than a specified number of years will not be allowed to operate in Male’,” he said.

Nafiz also noted that the discipline of drivers in Male’ is poor.

“People drive as they want, and stop wherever they want. This is especially common among foreigners. But we will work with traffic police to maintain discipline in the future,” he said.

Nafiz said that some countries in the region have limits on the number of vehicles that can be used, and also restrictions on the number of years vehicles can be used. Once this limit is exceeded, the vehicles must be removed from the area, said Nafiz.

“We will also decide on a procedure to be followed once a vehicle has been used for a certain period,” he said.