The opposition PPM-PNC coalition’s presidential candidate, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has pledged to restore the area removed from the jurisdiction of N. Maafaru – including two uninhabited islands and a large lagoon area – if he is elected to office.
In a campaign rally in Maafaru on Wednesday morning, Muizzu said he believes that the area that was removed from Maafaru’s jurisdiction belongs to the island.
He promised to resolve the issue “in the early days of my administration.”
Muizzu said that Maafaru has a lot of potential for development, but needs basic infrastructure first, such as better roads.
He said that he would rectify the issue if elected to office.
Muizzu also criticized the current administration’s health policies, which he called a “failure.”
He said the administration had left health systems in local islands “to ruin” and promised to strengthen them.
He also reiterated his promise to develop a resort in the island’s lagoon, which he said would provide the island’s youth with more opportunities to pursue careers in tourism.
Dr. Mohamed Muizzu visits N. Maafaru on September 20, 2023. (Photo/PPM)
Muizzu said that he had noticed a lot of interest in football about the island’s youth, but also the poor state of the island’s football field.
“We want to develop football,” he said.
He said that the state of football in Maldives, which he said had improved in the past, had declined under the current administration.
Muizzu stressed that football was the most popular sport in Maldives, and that the country has a number of talented young footballers.
He promised to build football stadiums in all islands, have league games played on a home-and-away format, and develop the sport.
He also promised to run a housing project in Maafaru.
Two uninhabited islands in the large Maafaru lagoon – Bah’thijehi and Farumuli – had previously been under the jurisdiction of Maafaru. But when the jurisdictions of administrative constituencies of councils was decided in 2020 under presidential decree, Maafaru lost an 80-hector area from its lagoon, including the two uninhabited islands.
