INIA concession cancelled amid acrimony

The government of the Maldives on 27 November terminated the 25-year public-private concession for its biggest foreign investment project: the USD511 million Ibrahim Nassir International Airport (INIA).

The decision followed a paper presented by the Attorney General’s Office that referred to "many legal, technical and economic issues”. A statement from the office of the Maldives President concluded that the concession agreement “was legally invalid [void ab initio], and impossible to... continue”. It called the agreement between the government, the Maldives Airports Company and the concessionaire (a consortium of GMR Infrastructure and Malaysia Airports Holdings).

GMR Infrastructure has been given seven days to vacate INIA. It called the decision “a unilateral and completely irrational move”, and an attempt to “take over the possession and control of the INIA under the pretext that the agreement is void. We are therefore taking all measures to ensure the safety of our employees and safeguard our assets". In a statement, India's ministry of external affairs said it would continue to remain engaged with Maldives on this issue, and “would expect that the Government of Maldives would fulfill all legal processes and requirements in accordance with the relevant contracts and agreement it has concluded with GMR in this regard".