President Abdulla Yameen has said that he does not believe that capital city Malé is 'cram-full'.

The President said this on Wednesday at the launching ceremony of Ravvehi Tharaqqee, a book with information on the development projects during the current administration.

Speaking at the ceremony, President Yameen said that a 25-story building is being built in the capital city, and that private parties are free to undertake such a project. He also said that it is not only the Malé natives that deserve to live in the capital.

Noting the large population in the city, President Yameen said that children deserve a peaceful environment free from the danger of speeding vehicles, and that traffic problems in Malé will be solved in the near future.

“Today no one will believe that Malé has an abundance of free space. This kind of development is also being seen in other cities.”

Speaking on the state of emergency earlier this year, he said that it was not a typical state of emergency as in other countries, and that he declared the state of emergency to remove the constraints the legal system has placed upon itself.

President Yameen said even he was surprised to see the amount of work the government did during the state of emergency and warned that things would have been much worse had he not declared it. During the state of emergency, life went on as normal and businesses went as usual with no restraints, the President added.