New Delhi, Nov. 29:
India on Thursday cautioned that the outcome of the problems that the
GMR group was facing in completing the modernising of Male airport project
could affect relations between the two countries.
“Frankly, it is likely to affect not only an Indian investor, but
investors worldwide and their attitude to investing in Maldives. It (GMR) is
the largest Indian investment there. And the manner in which the campaign
against it has gone has been extremely unfortunate and has caused great worry
because of the language being used by some of the marginal political parties
(there),” a senior Government official said.
On Tuesday, the Maldivian Cabinet recommended termination of the
contract that the GMR group won to modernise the Ibrahim Nasir airport in Male.
It was in 2010, that a consortium led by the GMR Group won the tender
through an international tendering process, which was managed by the
International Finance Corporation. GMR won the airport development contract
during the regime of former President Nasheed, who was removed from office in
February this year.
Officials claimed that with the elections in Maldives scheduled to be
held latest by October next year, the GMR airport issue has become an “election
issue and ceased to be a purely commercial issue.”
The Maldivian Government, however, has told India that the GMR issue was
“purely a legal matter” and there was no politics in it.
Asked about the security of about 30,000 Indians living in Maldives,
officials said that the island’s Government had assured that they would be
looked after.
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