N C Bipindra By

India and China are in a hot race to construct a naval base in one of Maldives’ atolls to berth its coast guard ships and to boost its already flourishing tourism sector with docking facility for commercial ships, a project said to be worth `3,000 crore.

Indian Army chief General Bikram Singh, who is on a three-day visit to Maldives that ends on Saturday, is holding discussions with the Maldivian government and military top brass on the project that is to come up on the Uthuru Thila Falhu atoll, government sources said here on Friday.

Singh is in Maldives as the senior-most military officer of India in his capacity as the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee. There are already enough indications that New Delhi will be involved with the naval base construction, as officials from its Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) have already visited the project location in Maldives in the recent months.

India will get involved in the project on a request already placed by Maldives for assistance in the construction of the naval dock, sources said. At present, Maldives does not have a docking facility on any of its 1,192 islands, clustered into 26 atolls, of which only 199 are inhabited.

Considering that Maldives is just about 140 km from India’s western seaboard island of Mini Coy in the Lakshadweep and about 650 km from Indian mainland’s Kerala coast, this geographic location provides a greater strategic advantage to India, sources said, noting that it would be easier for India to carry out the dock construction project for Maldives.

China, which opened its embassy in Maldives for the first time in 2011, too has offered such a help to the atoll nation. Beijing is already carrying out port construction for India’s two other neighbours -- at Hambanttota in Sri Lanka and at Gwadar in Pakistan -- apart from reports of Chinese presence at port construction sites on India’s eastern sea board too, particularly in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

India has been actively involved with Maldives’ security for decades now. In the recent times, Maldives has sought military assistance from India in the form of deployment of its warships, aircraft and helicopters.