The Addu City Council has released a statement calling on relevant authorities to ensure better road safety, following the death of a young motorcyclist earlier this week. 

The statement notes that it is the responsibility of governing authorities to ensure that roads are maintained so as to limit dangerous situations as much as possible. 

The council specifically refers to eye witness recounts to say that the accident on Saturday may have been caused by a fault in maintenance. Reportedly, the rider lost control after skidding on an area that was covered with sand after the road tar was cut to install a cable. 

The 22-year-old rider was brought to Malé and admitted to an ICU where he succumbed to his injuries. Another accident occurred in the city the same day, although no one had suffered any serious injury.

The statement said that the council has consistently received complaints over the safety of roads in its jurisdiction, primarily the tar-laid ‘link road’, a 16-kilometre causeway joining five districts of the city. This causeway is the second longest in the country. 

“There have been numerous accidents caused mostly by deteriorated of the road, which was initially well-built, the lack of maintenance is dangerous; to both those exceeding and abiding by the speed limit” the statement said about the causeway. 

The statement called on the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure to maintain the road and implement better safety regulations, so as to deter accidents. 

A 2015 amendment to the Decentralization Act took authority over public roads from local government and vested in the Housing Ministry, and thus with Maldives Road Development Corporation.