President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has decided to waive off the unpaid fines for parking stickers from 2018.

In a statement, the government said the president took the decision after taking into account various factors, including repeated complaints from residents about increasing fines for pasting stickers without adequate parking space in the city, and increasing the number of fines for traffic violations year after year.

"President Solih has decided to provide relief to the people as he and the government are convinced that such penalties are increasing due to the huge financial changes in the lives of the people due to covid-19 pandemic and that this is what is happening," the statement said.

President Solih had also said during the 2021 local council elections that the youth who had not paid the fine for driving without a license were worried and that a proper solution would be found.

Apart from parking fines, the government has also made it easier to pay fines for traffic violations.

The government has also decided to waive off fines on completion of a training programme depending on the nature of the penalty, keeping in view the specific circumstances, it said.

"This includes driving without a licence at the time of driving by the licensee, driving when the license is missing or expired or damaged, and driving or using without a licence to drive a single category of vehicle. There are also provisions that can be waived off on completion of this training programme, depending on the small size of the penalty," the statement said.

The training programme will be run by the local police service for a period of 2-4 weeks, the statement said.

The statement added that the president's decision was aimed at reducing the frequency of recurrence of such cases by traffic violators, which would increase people's awareness of traffic rules and other social issues.