A Chinese company awarded a large-scale agriculture project in Uthuru Thila Falhu by the government would instead carry out Chinese military work at the reclaimed island, the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party's (MDP) Chairperson Fayyaz Ismail has alleged.
Fayyaz made the allegations at an MDP campaign rally last night for the upcoming parliamentary elections. He raised questions about the effort to farm on reclaimed land when the Maldives has other land for agriculture.
"There are large plots in Gan. There's Vashafaru and Kelaa. Why not do farming in these places? Why do we need to reclaim land here? They're trying to plant trees and grow food in the salt at a place that's meant for public housing," he said.
The government awarded the project to a Chinese company but Fayyaz did not name China. He referred to China as "a great power in another region of the world."
"There's a lot of geopolitics connected to this. They're not coming to plant trees. There's a strong MNDF [Maldives National Defense Force] harbor in front of there. They're coming in front to do military work of a big country far from here," Fayyaz said.
He also noted that a Chinese vessel has been mapping underwater terrain over the past few months after entering Maldivian territorial waters.
He was referring to the Xiang Yang Hong 03 of China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA). The ship has been active in the Maldives' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Adhadhu found.
"It was something that our [MDP] government made an agreement for and did transparently. But now we don't know whether there is an agreement or not. That work is going ahead. We don't know at all what's happening to that information," he said, expressing concern.
Fayyaz accused the government of bringing distant superpower China to the region and trying to disrupt the peace and stability of the Indian Ocean. If the MDP returns to power, Uthuru Thila Falhu will be taken back by the government and designated for housing, he said.
Chinese state-owned company to develop agriculture zone
On March 28, the government-owned Maldives Industrial Development Free Zone (MIDF) signed an MoU with China's Harbor Engineering Company to carry out a large-scale agriculture project after land reclamation in Uthuru Thila Falhu.
The Maldives Industrial Development Free Zone Plc (MIDF) is a joint venture formed between five state-owned companies, including the State Trading Organization (STO), Housing Development Corporation (HDC), Maldives Ports Limited (MPL), Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) and Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL). Shimad Ibrahim is in charge of managing MIDF in his capacity as STO's managing director.
Under the MoU, MIDF will work with the Chinese company to develop an Agricultural Economic Zone (AEZ) in the Maldives.
The project includes land reclamation and the development of primary infrastructure. The project also involves building an agricultural industrial park along with a cargo and passenger terminal.
China Harbor Engineering is the world's second-largest company for land reclamation.
The company developed the Hambantota port in neighboring Sri Lanka, after which it was alleged to have funded the campaign of the country's former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. The company is also blacklisted in Bangladesh over bribery allegations.
A subsidiary of China Communications and Construction Company, the company functions under the control of a special commission that is directly overseen by the Chinese government's State Council.
The Chinese government has awarded several military projects to the company, which is alleged to have direct ties with China's army. In 2020, the American government took action against the company over land reclamation projects to create islands for military use in the South China Sea.
