The largest infrastructure project carried out in the Maldives is the Greater Male' Area Connectivity Project which aims to connect Male', Villimale', Thilafushi, and Gulheefalhu.
The Government of Maldives signed an agreement with Indian-based company Afcons Infrastructure Limited for the project back in August of 2021.
The project scope also includes the construction of navigation bridges, viaducts, and on-grade roads. It is funded by a USD 400 million line of credit (LOC) from Indian Exim Bank and a USD 100 million grant from the Indian government.
Indian Lines of Credit issued to support infrastructure development projects in other countries are governed by a well-structured scheme named the Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS).
India offers concessional terms of credit to developing countries with the aim of generating goodwill, strengthening long-term partnerships, and sharing India's expertise in project planning, design, and implementation in diverse areas of socio-economic development.
Under IDEAS, the Indian government classified countries into three broad categories and the Maldives falls under Category II which are Low and Low Middle Income (L&LMI) countries for which there is no minimum binding consensual requirement.
This means LOCs issued to the Maldives are at an interest rate of 1.75 percent with a grace period of 5 years and a total repayment period of 20 years.
