The Local Government Authority (LGA) is seeking the parliament's opinion on designating GDh. Thinadhoo as a city.
Thinadhoo's Council has been working to establish the island as a city. In this regard, the island council met with LGA's board last December and requested LGA to advocate giving the island City status. An official letter was sent to LGA on January 3 requesting the same.
On January 23, the LGA's board met and discussed how LGA could aid Thinadhoo Council in establishing the island as a city. The board decided that it would seek parliament's consideration on how to move forward with the matter. On February 9, LGA submitted the matter to the PArliament committee on Decentralization. However, no meetings have been scheduled thus far.
Speaking to AVAS a while back, Thinadhoo Council's President Saud Ali had said Thinadhoo's population is around 15,000 and that there was no reason why the island cannot be designated as a city. Thinadhoo s a developed island compared to other islands, and the island's development can be expedited through raising the island's status to that of a city, he had said.
'We will work towards this tirelessly. We don't believe there is any reason why Thinadhoo cannot be deemed a city,' Saud said.
According to the Decentralization Act, the standards or prerequisites to declare a city under the Act include that the island's registered population must not be less than 10,000. However, the required number is not officially registered to Thinadhoo.
The Maldives currently has four cities; Male’ City, Addu City, Fuvahmulah City, and Kulhudhuffushi City.
The Decentralization Act states that the President can declare an island as a city under certain conditions. When the Decentralization Act first came into effect, an island had to have a registered population of over 25,000 to be declared a city. However, during former President Mohamed Nasheed's administration, the population prerequisite was amended to 10,000, and Fuvahmulah was declared a city. Most recently, on January 1, 2020, Kulhudhuffushi was declared a city.
