Male' City Mayor-elect Adam Azim has requested the government to delay the implementation of the decision to transfer major projects to the government.

At a meeting held today, the Male' City Council approved the transfer of major projects worth MVR 120 million to the government and hand them over to the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Mohamed Shahid, the Corporate Development Minister at the President's Office, who was previously an employee of the City Council and was in charge of the projects, attended today's meeting of the Council. He proposed to hand over the projects to the Ministry of Infrastructure.

In a post posted on X this evening, Azim said that while the people have made it clear how the city should function, it is in violation of article 8 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Decentralization Act to do this. He called on the government to stop attempts to take over the affairs of the City Council by inducting ministers from the President's Office.

"I request to postpone the implementation of the council's decision today until the mayor elected by the people of Male' city takes over," Azim said in the post.

Speaking at a meeting held at the President's Office on Monday, Minister Shahid said that the council has proposed to hand over the projects to the relevant ministry for expediting the projects without making any changes to the proposals agreed upon by the council.

The projects were transferred to the government but if work did not start within six months, they could be transferred back to the civic body, according to his proposal.

Deputy Mayor Ahmed Nareesh, who is also the Acting Mayor of Male' City, requested that shahid's proposal be approved.

The motion was passed after nine of the 10 members present at today's meeting voted in favour, but not one member voted in a particular way on the issue.

The meeting did not give details of the projects awarded to him by the government. The male' city council's decision came just a few days before newly elected Mayor Adam Azim was scheduled to take the oath of office. He is scheduled to take oath on Monday night.