President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom Wednesday met with the lead foreign counsels of the legal team who represented the Maldives government in the arbitration case against Indian infrastructure giant GMR over the termination of the contract to operate the archipelago's main airport. Mr.
President's Office in a statement said president Yameen had met Michael Bloch QC and Kenneth Pereira and expressed his appreciation to the two experts on behalf of the government, for their efforts in the arbitration process.
The government had been asked to pay over USD270 million in damages to India's infrastructure giant by an international arbitration tribunal over the abrupt termination of the contract to operate the airport.
The Singapore based tribunal had in February ruled in favour of the GMR group of companies on its dispute with the Maldives government on the airport project.
The government last year had settled the compensation partly financed by a sale of a bond to the archipelago's central bank.
GMR row
The dispute stems from a 25-year contract to modernize, expand and operate the Maldives’ main international airport that the government entered into with GMR Male International Airport Pvt. Ltd. in 2010.
The mega project worth over USD500 million was awarded to GMR during the tenure of former President Mohamed Nasheed, despite concerns by the then opposition.
Shortly after the controversial resignation of Nasheed, the government kicked out GMR and cancelled its lucrative contract to run the airport.
The government has maintained that the contract was invalid in November 2012 after the parties fell into dispute over a fee GMR imposed on departing passengers, which the government said was contrary to Maldivian law.
The tribunal however, had ruled the original concession agreement was valid and binding and that the Maldives government had unlawfully repudiated it.
