CHINA-MALDIVES RELATIONS

Dec. 3, 2021

Chinese firm Sino Soar Hybrid Technology, whose energy project was suspended in Sri Lanka after India raised concern over its location close to the Tamil Nadu coast, recently signed a similar project in the Maldives.

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Maldives Ministry of Environment signed a contract with the Chinese energy company for the “design, supply, installation and maintenance of grid-tied” solar PV-diesel hybrid power generation plants in all 12 inhabited islands of Thaa Atoll, south of capital Male.
It was in January this year that Sri Lanka’s Cabinet cleared an energy project involving the same firm, in its northern islands of Nainativu, Delft or Neduntheevu, and Analaitivu, located off Jaffna Peninsula in the Palk Bay, some 50 km off Tamil Nadu.
However, India raised concern, offering to execute the project with a grant of $12 million. While there has been no official announcement on the project since, sources told The Hindu that “discussions [on the India-backed project] are on”. Sri Lanka’s Tamil parties too objected to the Chinese project then, saying it posed a “security threat” to India.

Source : The Hindu