Beijing: A Chinese firm has bagged a deal for upgrading the
international airport in Male, the capital of Maldives, after President
Xi Jinping visited the island nation on Monday. The Maldives government
had earlier given the $511 million contract to an Indian company, GMR
Infrastructure, and cancelled it two years ago over user charges. The
deal has now gone to Beijing Urban Construction Group Company Ltd.
The move has strategic significance in the Indian Ocean area, particularly in light of Chinese contractors building sea ports in Sri Lanka. Significantly, the Maldives also accepted President Xi's request to join the Chinese Maritime Silk Road programme, aimed at linking China to Europe through the seas of South Asia. Sri Lanka and Singapore have earlier expressed their desire to join the programme, which will connect China with the Indian Ocean.
President Xi, it is learnt, is expected to request Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his green signal for India's participation in the plan to transform the Indian Ocean zone into the regional shipping and aviation hub.
Read news in full 18/09/14 Saibal Dasgupta/Times of India
The move has strategic significance in the Indian Ocean area, particularly in light of Chinese contractors building sea ports in Sri Lanka. Significantly, the Maldives also accepted President Xi's request to join the Chinese Maritime Silk Road programme, aimed at linking China to Europe through the seas of South Asia. Sri Lanka and Singapore have earlier expressed their desire to join the programme, which will connect China with the Indian Ocean.
President Xi, it is learnt, is expected to request Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his green signal for India's participation in the plan to transform the Indian Ocean zone into the regional shipping and aviation hub.
Read news in full 18/09/14 Saibal Dasgupta/Times of India
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