A water hub near Mumbai will distribute drinking water to the Middle East, and West and South Asia, according to the Texan company S2C Global Systems.
The water will be shipped from Sitka Blue Lake Reservoir on Baranof island off the coast of Alaska, to a port south of Mumbai.
From the hub, smaller ships will transport water to shallower ports, such as Umm Qasr in Iraq, according to S2C’s press release.
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(0)The GMR-Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) consortium that recently won the controversial bid to develop Male’ International Airport will spend US$373 million on the upgrade, MAHB has reported.
Speaking at the opening of the cavernous Delhi Terminal 3 last week, GMR Manager P Sripathi told Maldivian journalists that physical work would begin on the airport towards the end of this year.
“The first phase is organising the finances and transitioning the airport from a government-run enterprise to a privately-run enterprise,” he explained.
“The transition will be a new thing [for the Maldives] and we will be there to help with that. We have done such things in other places, and we know how to go about it,” he said.
“There are over 100 various items have to be agreed and signed off between the [incumbent] Maldives Airport Company Limited (MACL) board and ourselves, but we expect to see work start on the new terminal 9-10 months from now.”
Sripathi said that within six months GMR would upgrade existing facilities at Male’ International Airport “to a level that international passengers and tourists may [expect]. We will deal with the ‘pinch points’ that are there today.”
Ultimately the development will involve 45,000 square metres of new terminal, repair and expansion of the runway, parking and taxiing space, and a turning point so more flights can be landed in the space of an hour.
The infrastructure giant’s ‘brownfields’ approach – refurbishing an active airport, as opposed to a ‘greenfields’ or ‘from scratch’ project – mirrors that of its much larger airport development in Dehli. The old terminal was upgraded prior to the opening of the new one last week, which is now expected to cater to 90 percent of the airport’s passengers, with capacity of 34 million per annum upgradable to 100 million.
Sripathi acknowledged that while nothing of similar scope was going to be built in the Maldives – Male’ International Airport currently handles 800,000 passengers per annum (each way), “[Dehli] is definitely in the vein we are planning.”
Representing a company about to plow US$400 million into Hulhule, Sripathi is unsurprisingly unconcerned about rising sea levels: “Worried? Absolutely not. Land that has been there for 2500 years is not going to disappear in 25 years,” he chuckled.
Local controversy regarding privatisation and the recent political upheaval have given equally little pause to the infrastructure juggernaut – but its recent entertainment of the Maldives press pack suggest it is sensitive to domestic public opinion.
“We are not worried, because we are out of the fold. We are here to do a job,” Sripathi said.
The debate [over privatisation] has obviously been there for a long time, and is perhaps coming to an end, that we leave to [the politicians]. We are only here to do our bit.”
Accusations by opposition parties about the transparency of the bidding process were not something in which GMR saw itself involved, Sripathi said.
“Let me distinguish our role from the government’s role,” he said. “Whatever the political debate that goes on in the country, we shouldn’t be interfering – that is not our duty. That is between the executive and the [opposition]. In this particular instance, if there is opposition to privatisation then this debate has taken place over many years. Otherwise government wouldn’t have initiated this privatisation program in the first place.
“The World Bank IFC has [monitored] this exercise and given a very good report, and that is where this should stop,” he said.
The government’s calculations acknowledge that the strength of GMR’s bid came from its US$78 million upfront payment (compared with US$27 million from the second-highest bidder) and in particular, its 27 percent sharing of fuel revenue.
Based on GMR’s forecast, the government anticipates that 60 percent of government revenue from the airport deal will derive from fuel – $74.25 million annually between 2015-2020, increasing to US$128.7 a year from 2025-2035. This in turn was the most significant element of the final ‘net-present-value’ calculations to determine the winning bid.
The Turkish-French consortium TAV-ADPM, who expressed dissatisfaction with the bid evaluation process to newspaper Haveeru and requested a “re-evaluation of the bids”, expressed disbelief that the GMR-MAHB consortium would be able to offer such a high percentage of the fuel trade to the government “without facing any loss.” TAV-ADPM had offered 16.5 percent, warning that pushing prices higher would drive buyers away.
Sripathi claimed 27 percent was “absolutely reasonable. We have done our homework, otherwise we would not have made the bid.”
“In Male [airport] there are two types of fuel trade going on: MACL sells directly to airlines, and in another kind of sale, parties buy from MACL and then sell to airlines,” he explained. “We looked at the margins of both lines of business, kept the same percentages, and calculated what we could offer the government if we took over all this and amalgamated it under one umbrella. The margin we can give to the government? 27 percent.”
Quizzed as to whether it was reasonable to estimate a revenue share by forecasting fuel prices over the lifespan of a 25 year agreement, Sripathi replied “everybody predicts. There are international agencies that predict the way fuel prices will go up and down.”
“I’m talking about the top line,” he said. “Bottom line, if the fuel prices go up, similarly everywhere will go up and the selling prices will also go up. We have to put a margin in there.”
At its airport in Hyderabad, GMR allows five independent fuel suppliers to compete to offer the most competitive price to the airlines.
In Male, “the volume does not support that. In India there are refineries and many fuel companies operating, and fuel companies can sell directly to the airlines,” Sripathi noted. “But in the Maldives fuel is imported, and the volumes are such that not many people come and buy fuel – the model is different.”
While its fuel figures are undoubtedly one of the major reasons behind GMR’s winning bid, a simple fuel monopoly is unlikely to recoup the consortium’s US$400 million investment.
Either GMR anticipates that global growth in the fuel trade is worth the risk, or it is taking a hit on the fuel price for the sake of offering a much lower 10 percent share of gross airport revenue, as compared to the other bids (TAV-ADPM offered almost 30 percent). The only figures available to the government in estimating this revenue (a staid US$20.43 million by 2025-2035) will have derived from the existing commercial revenue from the airport.
Compared to the glittering Gucci-lined corridors of airports in tourist cities such as Dubai, Male’ International’s 4-5 meagre departure lounge shops and dilapidated eateries look positively downtown in comparison – a striking missed opportunity, given the bulging wallet of the average visitor to the Maldives.
Sripathi indicated that the consortium is very interested in the well-heeled concourse traffic – sufficiently interested for the infrastructure giant to invest a sum equal to almost half the country’s entire GDP.
“It’s a lovely project. The type of tourists coming are from the very high-end tourism market, therefore the business opportunities are plenty,” Sripathi hinted.
“I would say the airport is naturally located to advance a lot aspects, like cargo. For example, many people would be surprised to know just how much cargo goes through the airport, because of the number of international connections and wide body aircraft using the airport. People are transiting air freight through the Maldives from places like Colombo – this means there is niche value out there.”
Some investment will be recovered through a US$25 airport development tax, set by the government for all bidders to be levied only on international travellers at time of departure and added to ticket prices.
Sweetners
Many longer term “vision” projects associated with the airport seem designed to appeal to government planners. The airport will be unlocking 50 acres of land and will develop “what we envision will become the Maldives’ financial district,” Sripathi said. “That’s from our vision document. [The government] asked what can be done, and we used our expertise and experts from the US, and this is one of the things we have proposed.”
The company also runs a social responsibility foundation, GMR Varalakshmi, that funds schools and vocational training in areas where it operates. The company took the Maldivian media on a tour of its centre near Hyderabad, which included a residential technical training college running free courses for 500 young people in trades ranging from air-conditioning and electronics to IT, sewing and hotel management – often in conjunction with the group’s partners and suppliers. Guides emphasised the importance given to instilling discipline and professionalism in students, as well as technical training.
Regarding salaries and employment of existing airport staff in Male’ – a key point of contention among the opposition parties critical of the deal – Sripathi commented that the company was “not about to bring Indian standards [of employment] to Maldives – income levels and expenses are dependent on place – it is independent.”
Ground handling, currently outsourced to Island Aviation, will be taken over by the new airport company, Sripathi confirmed.
“Whether we need more than one ground handling company depends on the size of business,” he said. “If size of business allows it, then we can [involve another company], otherwise there will be single party doing it to international standard.”
For other airport staff – aside from security, immigration and air traffic control, which will continue to run by the government as per other international airports – the 1500 people currently working at the airport “will become part of the privatisation process. We are in talks MACL board members,” Sripathi said.
“We are looking at their concerns and anxieties – ultimately people think somebody is coming into the country to take over the airport. But we are here to help develop the airport’s assets and show people its full potential,” he continued.
“But what is important keep in mind is that investment in an airport is a heavy investment – US$400 million is a heavy investment. These sorts of numbers must be returned to us – and the government – otherwise we both cannot survive.”
Disclosure: Minivan News and 10 other representatives of the Maldivian media recently toured Hyderabad airport and attended the opening of Dehli Terminal 3 as guests of GMR.
Correction: A previous version of this article erroneously referred to ‘Malaysia Airlines (MAHB)’ in one instance, where it should have read ‘Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB)’. This has been corrected.
(0)Dislikes(0)The executive today signaled reluctance to hand control of state media over to parliament, potentially sparking a political tug-of-war over Television Maldives (TVM) and Voice of Maldives (VOM).
The state media outlets are currently operated by the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC), a 100 percent government owned company established by executive decree.
However in April Parliament approved a law to establish a company called the Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) to operate the state media, with nine board members appointed and answerable to the parliament.
Today the parliament appointed nine members for the MBC board. Chairman of MNBC Mohamed “Madulu” Waheed and Managing Director Ibrahim Khaleel also proposed their names, but were dropped from the shortlist by parliament.
Out of the 29 names presented, MPs approved 18 names to be shortlisted and nine of the persons were appointed as the MBC board members.
“MNBC is a company established under a resolution by the president and all its assets and land also belong to the company under a contract,” said the President’s Political Advisor Hassan Afeef today at a press conference.
”Although the MBC has been established, the MNBC will continue operating the state broadcasters. I would like to note that TVM and VOM are both channels registered under MNBC and are assets of that company.”
President Mohamed Nasheed ratified the bill establishing the MBC in April, which was originally passed by Parliament on 6 April 2010.
The government said then that it wanted the corporation to be free from political and commercial influence, and to televise public service announcements and matters of the state (such as President Nasheed’s speeches) at no cost to the government.
However today Afeef said that if the MNBC did not wish to hand the assets to MBC, there was no way they could be transferred if the MNBC did not wish to.
“If the MBC was established for the government to operate, the government would have the power to appoint people for its board,” Afeef said. “The government did not establish MBC, it was the parliament.”
Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair in April that the formation of a new public broadcaster “will be best for the general public”, and that MNBC’s assets would be transferred to the new corporation.
DRP MP Abdulla Mausoom suggested at the time that President Mohamed Nasheed should “be very happy” with the way the bill was passed.
”Now the president can say he has no power over the media,” Mausoom said.
However government’s backtracking today suggest it may not be prepared to hand control of the state broadcasters to parliament so readily.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Criminal Court has suspended two officers who spoke in court on behalf of the police during hearings concerning two opposition leaders.
Jumhoree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim and People’s Alliance (PA) leader Abdulla Yameen, both also high-profile businessmen, were detained last week on charges of treason and bribery.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam identified the two officers as Inspector Mohamed Riyaz of Special Investigations and Superintendent Mohamed Jinah, Head of Drug Enforcement. Both officers have been suspended from appearing in court on behalf of police until December 2010.
When Minivan News contacted Jinah seeking to clarify the matter, he requested Minivan News contact Shiyam for information.
Shiyam claimed that police have been unable to determine the specific reason for the suspension of the two officers.
”The Criminal Court sent a letter signed by the Chief Judge of the court to Police Commissioner Ahmed Faseeh,” said Shiyam. ”The letter did not mention any specific reason [for the suspensions], only ‘ethical grounds’.”
Spokesperson of the Criminal Court Ahmed Riffath said that as police was not revealing details of the matter, the Criminal Court also did not wish to do so.
”There is a code of conduct that people representing in court should follow,” said Riffath. ”They were suspended due to a case relating to this code of ethics. It is for more than one reason.”
”This is the only information we can provide and I believe that it would be enough for co-operating with the media,” he added.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has announced it will hold a “special protest” this evening together with coalition partners, to deliver “a shocking message” to the government.
Ali Solih, DRP Media Coordinator, said that the protest would be held at the Artificial Beach tonight and that the leaders of the four opposition parties will be present at the protest.
”Leader of People’s Alliance (PA) , leader of Dhivehi Qaumy Party (DQP), leader of Jumhooree Party (JP) and leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) will address the people at tonight’s protest,” said Solih, ”and they will deliver a shocking message to the government.”
JP leader Gasim Ibrahim and PA leader Abdulla Yameen, both high-profile businessmen, were recently accused by the government of vote buying and treason. However Supreme Court has since ruled that their arrest was unconstitutional, after a panel of five judges decided that there was not enough evidence to keep them under house arrest.
Solih claimed the protest would show the government “the unity of the opposition coalition.”
”Due to the weather, not many islanders will be able to participate in this protest,” he said, ”but it will be a mass protest.”
Solih said that the party had requested the municipality council provide a ground for it to hold meetings, but that the council had not given an appropriate answer.
Deputy Leader of the DRP, Umar Naseer, said tonight’s gathering would not be a protest “but a rally where the leaders of four parties will address to the people.”
”It will start at 8:45pm,” he said. ”This rally is to let the government know that they have failed and that they should resign now.”
He said that the rally was “not scheduled to turn into a protest.”
On May 13, DRP held a protest against hiked electricity tariffs, titled ‘Red Notice’. The protest was dispersed by riot police outside the State Electricity Company (STELCO) building, and several DRP MPs, protesters and police were injured in the scuffle.
(0)Dislikes(0)“I don’t believe in it personally,” said Dr Mark Norman, Museum Victoria’s head of science, when asked to comment on Octopus Paul’s psychic powers.
“But having said that I don’t want to underestimate how amazing these animals are and how clever they are… they’re doing pretty well for a super snail relative.” he said.
“They can recognise individual people in a crowd, they can do really clever things like learn to unscrew the lids off jars to get prawns out of the inside, they can collect up half coconut shells and carry them around like portable armour and jump inside if something comes along.”
Octopuses can also mimic other sea creatures, according to Dr Norman. “And because they’ve got no hard shell, an animal that’s a metre across could squeeze through a hole the size of about a 20 cent piece, they can squeeze their eyes out of shape and pull their soft brains through the middle of these holes.”
(0)Dislikes(0)Australia’s longest bridge, 2.7 kilometres long and linking Brisbane to Redcliffe, was opened on Sunday. The bridge cost $315 million and was completed on time and on budget, according to Main Roads minister Craig Wallace.
Built using 120,000 tonnes of concrete and 10,000 tonnes of steel, it has three lanes for vehicles, a pedestrian path, a bikeway and fishing platforms.
The duplicated bridge is constructed to last 100 years and withstand a one-in-2,000 year storm, says Queensland state premier Anna Bligh.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Criminal Court has suspended the two police lawyers who prosecuted the cases of Majlis members Gasim Ibrahim, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and Ahmed Nazim.
Inspectors of Police Mohamed Riyaz and Mohamed Jina were suspended for contempt of court.
The Criminal Court informed police of the decision in a letter sent to Police Commissioner on Sunday, according to a police media official, but the official refused to comment further.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Supreme Court of Maldives has overturned a High Court ruling to keep MPs Gasim Ibrahim and Abdulla Yameen under house arrest for 15 days, ordering the immediate release of the high-profile businessmen and minor opposition party leaders.
Yameen and Gasim were detained pending an investigation into alleged corruption, bribery and treason.
A legal team led by former Attorneys General Azima Shukoor and Dr Hassan Saeed, representing the MPs, appealed the High Court decision last week on the grounds that the arrest was unlawful as Gasim was taken to the police station “to clarify something.”
Today’s ruling invalidates both the Criminal Court order to keep the MPs under house arrest for three days and the High Court ruling to extend the period to 15 days.
Chief Justice Abdullah Saeed said there was no room to uphold the lower court rulings granting the police authority to arrest the MPs.
The panel of five judges on the interim court concurred that the evidence presented was not sufficient to keep Gasim and Yameen under house arrest or in custody.
Speaking to press after the verdict, former Justice Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed and Dr Hassan Saeed said the ruling was “a victory for separation of powers in the Maldives.”
“Both of them were arrested in violation of the constitution and today this has been proven,” the Dhivehi Qaumee Party leader said.
Mulaku MP Yamin told reporters that the highest court of appeal in the country has ruled that police disregarded the law and the constitution in arresting the MPs.
“This is a victory for the Maldivian people, a complete victory,” said Gasim.
Crowds of PA and JP supporters gathered outside the former presidential palace Theemuge that houses the Supreme Court and High Court, to celebrate the ruling.
The leaders of the opposition People’s Alliance and Jumhoori Party (Republican Party) was arrested on 29 June in the wake of the en masse resignation of the cabinet, who claimed that opposition MPs were obstructing the government with the passage of laws intended to wrest executive power from the president.
The first hearing
At last week’s Supreme Court hearing, police requested that the court abolish provisions in the parliamentary rules of procedure that restrict the detention of MPs.
Ibrahim Riffath, Deputy Solicitor General advocating on behalf of the police in his personal capacity, argued the provisions were unconstitutional as article 88(a) of the constitution only grants authority to the People’s Majlis to formulate regulations for its administration and that MPs’ privilege could not be extended through such regulations.
According to local newspaper Haveeru, another point of contention at the hearing was interpreting article 45 of the constitution, which states everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained, arrested or imprisoned except as provided by law enacted by the People’s Majlis in accordance with article 16.
Article 16 restricts Majlis to enacting laws that could limit rights and freedoms to any extent only if demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
Grilled by the judge, Mohamed Jinah from police said the law referred to in article 45 was the Police Act, which grants police extensive powers for criminal investigation.
However, former AG Hassan Saeed said it refers to the Criminal Justice Procedures Act, which was being drafted at the same time as the constitution.
Hassan Saeed said the Police Act does not specify how arrests and detentions should be made.
Asked whether such a law existed, he answered no.
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