President Abdulla Yameen’s comments about capital city Malé not having much of a congestion problem reveals his unfamiliarity with the situation most Maldivians live in, says MP Abdulla Shahid.

The Henveiru-North constituency parliamentarian said this in a post on Twitter after the incumbent head of state made these remarks at an event held at the President’s Office on Wednesday.

President Yameen said at the event on Wednesday that he “does not believe Malé is congested and by God’s grace, it will soon be a hub of tertiary services with a number of 25-storey buildings”.

The event saw the launching of a handbook compiling details on various developmental projects run during his time in office.

MP Shahid said in tweet that congestion in Malé is so severe that people “are breathing onto each other’s faces” and called on President Yameen to “see the situation” himself if he has any “compassion”.

The entirety of the tweet translates to, “that shows complete unfamiliarity with the destitute situation most Malé residents live in! People divide sleeping hours! The whole city is a dump site! People are crammed together and breathing onto each other’s faces!”.

Shahid, himself a former speaker of parliament, is not alone in deprecating the president’s remarks. Yameen’s remarks have been labelled as ‘irresponsible’ and even ‘ignorant’.

Capital city Malé has an area of just 5.8 square kilometers and a registered population of over 130,000. Congestion is one of the capital city’s key issues and President Yameen’s government has also taken steps to curb it.