Singapore/Male/New Delhi: India is exploring various options, including suspending aid to Male, as the Maldives government yesterday decided to take control of the Male international airport despite a Singapore court staying the suspension of the contract given to India’s GMR-led consortium.
The High Court of Singapore suspended the Maldives government’s decision last week to terminate the $500m contract awarded to the consortium for developing the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport at Male.
“High Court of Singapore today (Monday) granted injunctive relief (stayed) against the applicability and operations of (contract termination) letter issued by the ministry of finance and treasury (MoFT), government of Maldives,” GMR said in a statement.
“The High Court upon hearing both the parties was pleased to grant this stay in favour of GMIAL (consortium of GMR-MAHB).” However, the arbitration process will continue on the sidelines, said a company official.
The Singapore High Court is acting as an arbitrator in the issue between the GMR-backed consortium GMIAL and the Maldives government. Under the contract, the law of either Singapore or Britain would apply in case of differences between parties.
The Maldives government, however, chose to defy the order. “We will continue the airport takeover and Inshallah next Saturday onwards MACL (state-controlled Maldives Airport Company Ltd) will be running the airport,” Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister Mohamed Nazim told reporters in Male yesterday.
The Maldives government’s attitude has upset New Delhi, which is now understood to be exploring various retaliatory options, including freezing its $25m aid to the island nation.
Official sources, however, chose to downplay the issue which has the potential to cloud the bilateral relationship. The Indian government is studying the court order and its implications, said the sources.
The Maldives government on Wednesday had defended its decision to terminate the GMR contract, saying the deal was dogged by “legal, technical and economic issues”. However, in the wake of reaction by the Maldives government Monday, it seems legal issues were only the fig leaf behind which President Mohamed Waheed was hiding, the sources said.
IANS
