President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has ratified the 8th amendment to the Decentralization Act (Act no. 07/2010). Parliament passed the amendment bill at the 76th sitting of its third session held on Sunday, 05th December 2019. The signing ceremony for ratification was held today during the Opening ceremony of the first Councillors conference 'Viavathi Raajje'.
The decentralization act now provides local councils with more fiscal and legal autonomy and allocates a third of council seats for female councillors. The bill will ensure the finances local councils also include revenue from leasing land, islands and lagoons, and 100 per cent of the revenue generated from land and other resources in the direct jurisdiction of the council. All Public Sector Investment Programmes (PSIP) under MVR5 million is also proposed to fall under local councils as sectoral grants.
Upon ratification, the Bill has been published in the Government’s Gazette.
