No proposal to privatize Air India and Airport Authority: Patel

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel ruled out disinvestments of Air India (AI) and Airport Authority of India (AAI). Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Patel said there is no such proposal before the government and also said that the government is not considering Initial Public Offer (IPO) at this stage.
For the members demand to roll back the development fee collected by the privatized airports, Patel said the government had constituted Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) entrusted with the responsibility of deciding on the issue.
Members suggested that partners should develop airports from their own funds and once they complete the works, they could charge development fees. The Delhi and Mumbai airports were charging development fees from passengers against whom the Resources of Aviation Redressal Association (ROAR) had protested, but there was no protest in this regard from International Air Transport Authority (IATA). ROAR has filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court on the matter, Patel informed the house.
Patel informed that out of the total cost of around Rs 9,000 crore, about Rs 5,500 crore has already been spent and the AAI had taken up development work on Chennai and Kolkata airports.
09/07/09 Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Jul 2009, NACIL Jul 2009