Indian corporate houses have lined up investments worth $1 billion (around Rs 4,500 crore) in the Maldives, to fructify over the next two to three years. The houses include Tatas, Suzlon, GMR, Apollo Hospitals and Oberoi. “To attract more investment from India, the Maldivian government is planning to ease the procedures for India Inc and planning to offer various incentives,” said Ahmed Shaheed, the country’s foreign minister.
Speaking to Business Standard, the minister, here as part of a delegation led by the Maldives’ president, Mohammed Nasheed, said the $1-billion “is a conservative figure”. He said the proposed investments would be in tourism, hospitality, health care, real estate and energy sectors, among others.
“We will see to that procedure like tendering process, request for proposals and expression of interest, which were taking too long, will be eased for the Indian corporates. We will also cut short the bureaucratic hurdles,” said President Mohammed Nasheed.
He added many Indian companies had already invested in Maldives and reaped rich dividends.
The Taj Group, with two resorts in Maldives, is one of the pioneers. “The Oberoi group has also initiated discussion with us. We are also keen on promoting mid-end and budget hotels, along with Indian partners,” added Shaheed.
To attract more investment into the hospitality sector, he said the government was contemplating various incentive schemes, one of which being to increase the leasing period for allotted property to 50 years from 25 years and reducing the base rent. The government is planning to ink an agreement with the Tata Group to promote affordable housing. It, another Indian realty company and a Thai company would each be given the task of building 1,000 houses (each house measuring 1,200 sq ft) as part of an official agenda to provide 10,000 homes by the next year, in a government-funded scheme.
The other potential area to attract investment is renewable energy. Recently, Suzlon signed an agreement with the government for setting up a 25-Mw wind energy farm in the southern Maldives.
The GMR group has signed a pact to develop an international port in northern parts of the country. The proposed investment is $270 million (Rs 1,245 crore).
On healthcare, the government has signed an agreement with Apollo Hospitals to manage the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital at Maldives. The hospital will be renovated with an investment of $25 million (around Rs 115 crore).
