Maldives,
on Tuesday, asked GMR-led consortium GMR Male’ International Airport Pvt. Ltd.
(GMIAL) to surrender control of the Male airport and handover the management to
state-run Male Airport Corporation Ltd (MACL) by Saturday for a smooth
transition.
But
GMR made it clear that it had legal backing to continue operation.
The
chief executive officer (CEO) of GMIAL, Andrew Harrison, in a statement, said
that the acting Transport Minister, who was also the Defence Minister, called
on him at the Male’ airport on Tuesday and asked him that MACL would operate
the airport from Saturday morning in line with the Government of Maldives
communication to the consortium.
“The
Minister wanted a smooth transition as the airport operations should not be
affected, and suffer in any way. Passengers should not be inconvenienced and,
therefore, all activities would be allowed to continue as is,” Mr. Harrison
said.
The
meeting was attended by the Acting Transport Minister, the Chairman of Maldives
Civil Aviation Authority, GMR’s lawyer in Maldives and three members of MNDF.
“According
to their legal advisors, the injunction issued by Singapore High Court does not
prevent them from taking over the airport, and the injunction cannot be applied
to a sovereign state. They proposed offering 100 per cent employment in MACL to
all staff currently working for GMIAL, and an announcement to that effect would
be made tomorrow (Wednesday) by the MACL board.
The
offer included both local and foreign staff at their existing terms and
conditions, including salary,” Mr. Harrison said.
However,
GMIAL made it clear that it would continue.
“The
injunction clearly prevents Maldives from taking the action outlined in their
notice issued to us stating that the airport would be taken over at the end of
the 7-day period. We remain resolute in our position, and there is no question
of an offer being made and certainly no question of any alleged offer being
accepted as we will simply not agree to our rights nor the injunction being
undermined in any way,” the GMIAL CEO said.
He
said GMIAL’s lawyer clarified that the injunction was to be honoured.
“The
Acting Transport Minister explained that he was not a legal person and he
would, therefore, arrange for his legal team to meet our lawyer tomorrow
(Wednesday) to discuss the legal matters and in the meantime he stated that we
should maintain dialogue,” Mr. Harrison said.
“We
will always maintain dialogue but our legal position is very clear and we will
not compromise on our legal position which is clearly supported by the injunction,”
he added.
But
GMR makes it clear that it has legal backing to continue operation
No comments:
Post a Comment