Island Council for the island of Vilingili in Gaaf Alif atoll has stated that they do not believe the Government had any concrete plan for the development of the island.

Speaking to RaajjeTV regarding the projects of the island, Council Member Mohamed Ibrahim Fikry said that currently a coastal protection program and a clean water network program were underway in the island.

These two projects, he said, were slated to be completed by the end of the year. However, he added that based on the current rate of work on the two projects, it was highly unlikely that they would be completed by the end of the year.

Fikry also added the coastal protection program was ongoing for the past two years and was riddled with various issues. One of the first issues that had risen, he said was exclusion of citizens’ feedback on the process. The second issue he noted was while coastal protection was ongoing, no work was carried out on the port. He added the citizens had wanted to extend the port.

Speaking about the clean water project, Fikry said the Indian contractor had assured the project will be completed in three months. He remarked parts of tarred roads in the island needed to be removed to lay pipes for the project, which again caused delays as it was not taken into consideration.

He also highlighted the issue of budgets for the Council as a bar for serving the citizens, noting that most of the projects initiated by the Council were at a standstill due to this.