Male, April 17 (AVAS): India’s infrastructure giant GMR Group has lost an additional US$ 15 million claim in the legal row over the cancelled contract to develop the country’s main airport.
Despite winning a staggering US$ 271 million payout from the Maldivian government in 2016, the company had filed a new claim for an additional US$ 15 million.
However, the Singapore based tribunal which had awarded the massive payout in 2016, had ruled against GMR on Friday, AVAS understands.
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 US$ 500 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 successor Waheed government kicked out GMR and cancelled its lucrative contract to run the airport.
The government has maintained that the 2012 contract was invalid after the parties got into a dispute over a fee GMR imposed on departing passengers, which the government said was contrary to Maldivian law.
The tribunal however, ruled that the original concession agreement was valid and binding and that the Maldives government had unlawfully repudiated it. The Maldives was asked to pay US$ 271 million in damages, which it did in full within a week.