INDIA has agreed to develop three Sri Lankan wind farms on islets between the countries, said officials today, in a victory for New Delhi after the project was taken away from a Chinese firm.

India has long been alarmed about growing Chinese influence in the region. Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers died in a brawl on their disputed Himalayan border in 2020.

A US$12 million (RM50 million) project to build wind turbines on three small islands in the Palk Strait between southern India and Sri Lanka was awarded to a Chinese firm in 2019, with funding lined up from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

But after Indian protests about Chinese activity so close to its coast, work never started and the project on the Nainativu, Analaitivu and Delft islets was scrapped.

A joint statement issued today after a visit to Colombo by India’s foreign minister said a memorandum of understanding has been signed to build the installations.

Sri Lankan officials said India agreed to provide funding in place of ADB.

Chinese ambassador in Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong last week expressed Beijing’s displeasure over the scuttling of the project and warned it will send a negative signal to potential foreign investors.

India is known to be suspicious of China’s growing political and economic influence in the South Asian nation, strategically located at the southern tip of the vast Indian subcontinent.

China and India have been competing for major infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, which is currently facing its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.

Colombo asked for more loans from both nations to shore up its foreign reserves and import essentials, including food, fuel and pharmaceuticals. – AFP, March 29, 2022.