Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) has been officially taken over by Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) from its operator GMR Infrastructure Limited just past midnight on Friday.
A ceremony was held at the VIP lounge of INIA attended by Acting Transport Minister Mohamed Nazim, Attorney General (AG) Aishath Azima Shakoor, Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb, Economic Minister Ahmed Mohamed and MACL Chairman.
Maldives government brought the 25 year contract with GMR to develop and run the airport signed during the former government in 2010 to abrupt end and given the Indian infrastructure giant seven days to hand over the airport to MACL which ended at midnight on Friday.
The present government has maintained that the contract was signed under "dubious" conditions and was "void", a charge hotly denied by the Indian firm.
It is believed that GMR had also been invited to participate in the ceremony, but at the last moment the company had informed that it is not able to do so.
An official of the government told Haveeru that once the seven day notice expired, the contract with GMR would be terminated and the company would have two days to return the aerodrome certificate to the government.
A statement by GMR revealed that GMAIL was currently valuing the compensation that would be owed to the company following the government's decision to annul the contract signed on June 28, 2010 and the Singapore Appeal Court's ruling that the Maldives government had the authority to terminate the contract and expropriate the airport. GMR also insisted that it will cooperate in the handover of the airport and relayed the assurances given by the government that the employees and other relevant parties will not suffer as a result of the change of management.
08/12/12 Haveeru Online
