Having to pay only 250 million dollars to GMR is a great win for Maldives because they initially claimed for 1.4 billion dollars. Indian newspapers reported that GMR spent 200 million dollars on the airport even though we cannot see 200 million dollar worth investments at the airport.
No trail will end in making both parties happy. Hence Maldivians can be happy with this decision. Maldivians are proud of the “Maldivian’s airport for Maldivians” movement led by Sheikh Imran to reclaim the airport. JP and PPM also played a huge role in this movement.
The cooperation given by former President Dr.Waheed for this movement should be noted. Also we should note the huge sacrifices made by several thousand people in the movement that reclaimed the airport.
The norm of foreign investment is to let the foreign investor invest in a project. However in this project, it was the Maldivian government which had to invest in the project and then using the profits to develop the airport. Hence, the money which GMR took as a loan with the sovereign guarantee given by Maldives is also now a debt on the people of Maldives.
Auditor general never revealed that if in fact the government received any money from GMR. Hence there are huge questions surrounding this deal. Also it is questionable to give a fully operational airport to a foreign investor and then also give a sovereign guarantee to take loans.
Based on the arbitrary court of Singapore, Maldives will have to pay back around 500 million dollars to GMR. However this is a small figure compared to what we would have lost if GMR was running the airport today. It is indeed a small value to protect the sovereignty of this nation.
Having to pay only 250 million dollars to GMR is great win for Maldives!
