AAI seeks grant for revamp plan

New Delhi: After being disallowed to charge a user development fee (UDF) from passengers to part-fund the Rs 290-crore Trivandrum airport revamp plan, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sought a grant from the aviation ministry.
The AAI wanted to levy UDF at Trivandrum and Ahmedabad but this demand was turned down even as the ministry’s agreements with private consortias developing new airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore give them the right to do so.
At Trivandrum, the AAI wanted a levy of Rs 250-Rs 300 per passenger. "This levy was cleared both by the Planning Commission and Public Investment Board but disallowed by the aviation ministry. The UDF was included in the internal rate of return and now that is gone, the project has become unviable. Still we are going ahead with it and have sought some assistance from the aviation ministry. There’s no reply so far," said a senior official.
Seeing the fate of this request, the AAI has not proposed any UDF for the Rs 1,900-crore apiece upgradation projects at Kolkata and Chennai.
13/03/08 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Mar 2008