Despite the recent tension between the two countries, India continues its support for 65 community projects worth $23 million in Maldives. Significant progress has been made in the implementation of the project, said the Indian mission on Thursday.

8 out of the 47 High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) in the Maldives that are backed by the Indian government and were approved up until November 2023, have already been completed.

"While the grant is being provided by the Indian government, the projects are selected in order of priority as set by the Maldivian government. Implementation of these projects are also undertaken by institutions appointed by the Maldives government," news portal Edition. mv reported.

India-Maldives Partnership: Advancing with 65 Community Projects

A recent post by the Indian High Commission on its official X handle stated, "Happy to note steady progress of Greater Male Connectivity Project, being implemented with Indian grant and concessional credit @USD 500 million. GMCP is a transformational infrastructure project which will stimulate economic growth and improve ease of living in Maldives."

The post was made on Tuesday, after the Maldives Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the High Commission of India in Maldives conducted a two-day meeting to review the ongoing projects, discussing that despite the completion of eight projects, the remaining (HICDPs) are at different levels of progress.

The projects are of a wide variety, with some of them being the establishment of fish processing plants, drug detoxification centres, cultural centres, youth centres and sports complexes, as reported by Edition. mv.

65 community projects
Image Source: National Maritime Foundation

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Indian assistance on implementation of these HICDPs through local institutions was initially signed between India and Maldives on March 17, 2019, it said, adding, "At the time, the MoU outlined a grant totalling USD 5.5 million (MVR 85 million)." subsequently, this MoU was renewed in 2021, increasing the grant to (USD 10 million) MVR 155 million; Then, in January 2023, another MoU for grant assistance was signed, with an additional USD 6.5 million (MVR 100 million) increment, resulting in a total HICDPs grant from India to the Maldives of USD 16.5 million (MVR 255 million).

India-Maldives relations started falling apart once the pro-Chinese President Mohamed Muizzu took the oath in November 2023, within a few hours of his appointment he demanded India withdraw its military personnel manning three aviation platforms from his country.

The remaining military personnel were sent back to their home country earlier this month, and they were substituted with civilian personnel from India.

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