Council to introduce a "no driving" day once a month

Male' city council has announced plans to introduce a "no vehicle" day once a month in the congested capital city.

Bans on driving motorized vehicles for certain hours have been implemented in the capital previously in connection with special celebratory days. For instance, the last Fitr Eid day and Independence Day saw a ban on driving motorized vehicles for a few hours in the evening. 

The deputy mayor of Male' city Shamaau Shareef stated to "Sun" that there have been a positive response from a lot of people regarding the no driving hours implemented in the capital on special occasions. He also pointed out that there were no driving days implemented in several other cities across the world as well.

"We are discussing plans to introduce just one day every month where people would be on foot," said Shamaau. The deputy mayor also stated that the aim of the council with this move was to make Male' city a liveable place for everyone and the council believes that this is a very important move to achieve that. 

"We have noticed that this is something that a lot of people want, and so we are getting an extremely positive response from the people. We want to show that walking is an important activity and get people to prefer walking instead," said Shamaau.

Shamaau also stated that there were plans to set no driving hours for the upcoming Alha Eid holiday as well and that the city council is going to meet with the residents of Male' city to find out their views on this matter.