Airport issue can cause irreparable damage: Nasheed

Former President, and presidential candidate of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Mohamed Nasheed has said that the government’s efforts to reclaim the airport from its current operator GMR are irresponsible, and could cause irreparable damage to the Maldives.

Nasheed said this while speaking at a rally held by MDP at Usfasgandu last night.

Nasheed said that the government will receive MVR45 billion in 25 years from GMR, whereas it would receive MVR60 billion if the airport was operated by the government itself. He said that he understands people’s concerns that arise due to the disparity between these numbers.

“The first decision was on the airport growth, or the number of passengers that arrive at the airport will increase by 25 percent yearly. We were told by IFC, World Bank and other world-leading financial sources that passengers will increase between 3.5 and 4.5 percent. So we know what their 25 percent is about. That is, it was included in the 2007 budget that US$100 million will be received from Gulhee Falhu. And I’ve seen it included in the budget, that US$200 million will be received from Ihavandhoo,” Nasheed said.

Nasheed said that the government estimates that tourist arrivals will exceed the number of tourist beds exist in the country, or increase by overwhelming numbers.

“According to my calculations, MVR12 billion was stolen from the MVR60 billion which I mentioned earlier. So when you deduct MVR12 billion from MVR60 billion, you get MVR16 billion. Then they talk about the revenue collected by the Duty Free. While they talk about that revenue, they have not included the expenses in the books. Normally, 75 percent of the revenue will be expenses. So what I saw was, that MVR19.5 billion was added to this in order to obtain the MVR60 billion,” Nasheed said.

Nasheed said that even though the government has said that GMR will invest MVR4.8 billion, the contract states that GMR will spend MVR8.9 billion.

He said that some of that money also went missing, and that while the government said that it would obtain a loan to develop the airport, the loan’s interest had not been included in the books.

“So once again, much money goes missing. At the same time, when they make financial statements, no expenses are included for the Airports Company. Because this expense is at least MVR110 million, MVR2.7 billion must be deducted from the MVR60 billion I mentioned earlier. In the end, the real revenue to the government if the airport was operated by the Airports Company would be MVR18 billion over 25 years. Through GMR, we get MVR45 billion. That’s MVR1.8 billion per year,” Nasheed said.

Nasheed said that the Maldives will not suffer any losses by allowing GMR operate the airport. He said that Maldivian citizens will not benefit from the placards put up across Male’ against India, and that those who voice these sentiments are also not working to reclaim the airport from GMR.