"The GMR group has co-operated with us and agreed to a three-week transition from today," Waheed's spokesman Imad Masood told AFP. "We are in possession of the airport now and Mr G. M. Rao (owner of GMR group) called on the President today and had a cordial meeting," Masood said.
The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party of former president Mohamed Nasheed, who initiated the privatisation with GMR in 2010, staged a peaceful protest against the move, witnesses said. Nasheed had warned that abrogating the deal would jeopardise foreign investment prospects in the popular honeymoon destination and also hurt ties with neighbouring India.
However, Masood said there was "no animosity, only regret" and that the termination was not a move against India. He said the new managers of the airport, the state-run Maldivian Airport Company Limited, agreed to retain all staff on the same terms as before and promised to employ Indian nationals hired by GMR. Officials have also sought to reassure travellers and international airlines that they will be unaffected. There was little comment from GMR which Thursday lost a legal battle in Singapore, where the Supreme Court ruled the Maldivian government had the right to take back the airport.
"At the moment things are calm," GMR spokesman Arun Bhagat told AFP. The privatisation of the airport in 2010 has been targeted by Waheed over alleged corruption and for patriotic reasons, with his government objecting to such a prominent national asset being run by foreigners. There has been fury behind closed doors in India at the abrupt nationalisation move which also raised concerns for foreign investors. However, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid played down the controversy. "If they (the Maldives) have to take a decision in the interest of their society and country and if that decision is taken properly as per laws there, what objections can anyone have there?" he told reporters.