New Delhi: GMR Group has dared the Maldivian government, saying the company would not exit the GMR Male International Airport (GMIAL) on Friday midnight, as directed. Trouble started brewing over the Male airport after the Maldives’ terminated GMR’s 25-year contract November 27, which the company termed “arbitrary”. GMR secured a stay order from the Singapore High Court, but the Maldives termed its decision "non-reversible and non-negotiable".
In a GMR press conference, Siddharth Kapur, chief financial officer, said, “We will continue as operators of the airport. The agreements were not just signed by the Maldivian airport company, but by the government also and, by that clear fact, they are bound to honour the judgment of the Singapore courts.”
Refuting GMR’s claim of continuing as GMIAL operators, Masood Imad, media secretary of the Maldivian President, told Business Standard: “Whatever GMR is conveying to the Indian media, this is not what is happening on the ground. I get a clear sense of a transition. GMR recently transferred some equipment to the adjoining island, keeping the transition management team in loop. Why would they otherwise do so? Of the Indian workers in the airport, some people are being sent back to India by GMR recently, though I am not sure about the reason”
The seamless transition won’t be such a big deal as 95 per cent of the airport employees are Maldivians and the rest expatriates. The employees will now be on MACL rolls as opposed to GMR rolls, Imad added.
05/12/12 Business Standard
