GMR suspects foreign hand in Male airport crisis

Days after it was unceremoniously thrown out of Maldives’ biggest airport project, GMR Infrastructure, on Wednesday, said involvement of a foreign country in Island nation’s decision could not be ruled out.

“I can’t say that for sure. But, looking at the political situation and political framework in Maldives, I can’t rule out anything,” GMR Airports CFO Sidharth Kapur told reporters here. He was responding to a query on whether GMR saw involvement of a foreign country such as China in cancellation of its over $500 million contract to build and operate the Male airport. Mr. Kapur, however, did not elaborate on the possibility of the involvement of foreign nation.

Singapore decision

Maldives has refused to abide by a Singapore court decision that stayed the termination of GMR contract, and has said it will go ahead with its decision to takeover the airport by Friday.

GMR has so far refused to take Maldives’ bait of compensation for the cancellation, saying it was in the nation for operating the airport and not for compensation.

Asked whether the company would appeal to the International Court of Justice, Mr. Kapur said, “We expect and appeal to the Maldives government to honour international law.”

GMR, he said, was still hopeful of an “amicable solution” to the crisis, but maintained that repeated attempts to get in touch with the Maldivian President were yet to elicit any response Mr. Kapur said the company was thankful for India’s support to it since the beginning of the crisis, and hoped New Delhi would “take everything possible from their armoury to ensure that something amicable comes out.”

Asked whether the company tried to reach out to the main Opposition in Maldives, he said, “We have tried to speak to everybody so far. We are completely committed to the project.” 

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