Maldives govt rules out giving lucrative airport deal to foreign company

The newly-elected Maldives government has ruled out leasing the country’s only operational international airport to a foreign company, local media reported here on Wednesday.
Tourism minister Ahmed Adheeb, who co-chairs the ministerial economic council, told reporters that state-owned Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) would continue to operate the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.
Adheeb stressed that “selling” state assets was not a method practiced in public-private partnerships.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed had signed a 500 million US dollar lease with Indian infrastructure giant GMR to operate and develop the airport. It was to be the largest foreign investment in the Indian Ocean group of islands.
But Nasheed was controversially ousted from power in February 2012 and his successor, Mohamed Waheed, had terminated the agreement following pressure from his allies.
Read News In full 05/12/13 Xinhua/NZweek