Patel defends airport user fee

New Delhi: Government defended the unpopular levying of user charges at airports, with civil aviation minister Praful Patel saying these were concepts people should get used to in view of the changing times.
Patel told Lok Sabha that the recently set-up Airport Economic Regulatory Authority will decide on the issue of user charges, adding that they were done as per the concession agreement signed with airport developers.
Patel was bombarded with questions on why user charges were being levied by developers when the modernisation of airports was still in progress. BJD's Tathagat Satapathy said toll fee was charged on highways after they were completed but it was being done in advance in airports.
MPs across the spectrum argued that it was the responsibility of private players to develop airports and passengers should not be charged for it. Satapathy, responding to a remark from the minister, sarcastically said that developers should put up boxes for voluntary donations and not charge an astronomical fee.
Asked if the user charges would be stopped after the airports attained a certain level of footfall, Patel said there was no such provision to end it midway. The minister said that airport upgradation was a continuous process and once a level of usage was touched, the developer would move to creating next level of facilities.
11/07/09 Times of India

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

Categories: Airports Jul 2009