Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister Colonel (Rtd) Mohamed Nazim has said that big changes will be made to Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL).
He made the statement following the handover of the Ibrahim Nasir International airport from GMR to MACL.
GMR was awarded operation and management of the airport for 25 years in 2010,by the government of former President Mohamed Nasheed.
Speaking at the handover ceremony last night, Nazim said that Maldivians gained back their airport at 12am last night, and that the airport will henceforth will be managed by a stronger MACL Board which would be free of all political influence.
“We believe that now, talking about the past is not important. We have to think about the future now. We will make the future better and the airport will see changes. We can improve MACL. We will not look back at the past anymore. We will look forward,” said Nazim.
Nazim said that MACL will see big changes and improvement, and that they are working on changing the current prices. He said that the airport will be a different place in the future.
When asked why officials from GMR were not present at the ceremony, Nazim said that GMR’s license to manage the airport had been cancelled as of 11:59pm. He said that discussions with top GMR officials were held yesterday and that the airport had been taken over as agreed during discussions.
He also said that they had agreed that the transaction would be a symbolic one based on six basic principles. Nazim however, did not disclose the agreed principles.
Answering other questions asked by the media, Nazim said that GMR is not required to send official handover papers,as advised also by Attorney General Azima Shakoor.
He also said that while the government has taken over the airport as per the end of the notified handover duration, there are no questions of legality surrounding this transfer.
When asked of the amount the government has to pay as compensation, Nazim deflected the question by saying that it will take at least three months to set up an arbitration tribunal, and that he does not anticipate that compensation would have to be paid from next year’s budget.
He also said the compensation payable, if any, will be a very small.
Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad said that the compensation amount has not been allocated in next year’s budget. He also said that while the compensation amount has yet not been decided, the government will pay the amount when necessary.
The government annulled its agreement with GMR saying that it was void ab initio. The government has also notified GMR to remove their property within a period of 30 days. When first notified of the annulment of the agreement, GMR said that they will not leave the airport and that they will remain until the end of the specified duration. GMR contested the issue in Singapore courts which ruled the government has the legal right to annul the agreement.