Minister of Cities, Local Government and Public Works, Adam Shareef Umar, has announced that an agreement to begin work on the construction of 55 new council buildings will be signed by the end of this month.

Speaking on MMTV’s Bodu Khabaru Programme, Minister Adam Shareef highlighted that the urgent need for renovations and infrastructure development in council offices had been a long-standing issue.

He noted that little progress had been made over the past 15 years in terms of improving the physical infrastructure of council offices, with nearly all councils requiring significant maintenance.

The Minister went on to explain that the President had recognised this need and has plans to initiate two major projects aimed at addressing these challenges.

One project, which will be carried out with support from the Chinese government, focuses on building new council offices, while the second involves the renovation of existing council buildings as part of the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP).

Minister Adam Shareef emphasised that upon completion of these projects, 71 per cent of the councils across the Maldives would be fully renovated or newly built, significantly boosting the infrastructure supporting local governance.