India seeks to counter China sway in Maldives with bridge project

(Malé, Maldives) AFP: India yesterday pledged US$ 500 million to build bridges and causeways in the Maldives, as New Delhi seeks to counter growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.

The Maldives borrowed billions of dollars from Beijing and hired Chinese firms for infrastructure projects under previous President Abdulla Yameen.

This stoked concerns in India and the West that China was saddling countries in Asia and beyond with unsustainable debts while expanding its sphere of influence.

Under the new Maldives government, India has sought to regain influence in the archipelago nation of 340,000 people and 1,192 islands located on major East-West shipping lanes.

The new investment announced takes India’s total pledged outlay to over US$ 2 billion since President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih came to power, India’s foreign ministry said.

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid said the new money was part of a financial package to build bridges and causeways linking the capital Male to three neighbouring islets.

“Once completed, the project will be the single largest infrastructure project in the Maldives,” Shahid said in a statement.In total, they will also be more than three times longer than the US$ 200 million “China-Maldives Friendship Bridge” completed under Yameen with Chinese loans which has since been re-named.