India Funds Maldives Infrastructure to Overshadow China
Two years after China completed the Maldives’ biggest infrastructure project till date, India is attempting to overshadow Beijing by financing a multi-island connectivity proposal envisaged to be longer than the Sinamalé Bridge. India’s decision to finance the Greater Malé Connectivity Project (GMCP), along with new budgetary support and an air travel bubble, was announced by external affairs minister S. Jaishankar during a meeting with his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid. While the Maldivian government highlighted the $250 million financial package, the Indian side gave top billing to the investment in GMCP. The Maldives China Friendship project, a 1.39-kilometre bridge linking the capital city Malé to Hulhule island, was opened in April 2018. Then Maldives president Abdulla Yameen, whose term witnessed strained ties with India and stronger alignment with China, had described the $200 million project as the “biggest achievement in our diplomatic history”. After the opposition MDP candidate Ibrahim Solih defeated Yameen, India has been trying to leverage its friendlier disposition to expand its presence in the strategically located Indian Ocean archipelago. The project will connect Malé with three neighbouring islands through a bridge and causeway link that will be 6.7 kilometres long, The financial package will have a grant component of $100 million and a new Line of Credit of $400 million. According to government sources, the “high visibility” GMCP will render the Maldives China Friendship bridge ‘insignificant in comparison’. “It will help in demonstrating India’s overarching presence in the Maldives through a high-visibility project in the Greater Malé region and showcase India’s expertise in conceptualising and implementing a complex infrastructural project of this scale,”.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL