In what could be termed as a big blow to the Bangalore International Airport Ltd’s (BIAL), the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA), which
approves the user development fee (UDF) that is levied on air passengers, has brutally slashed most of its expenditure plans. While the BIAL had proposed to
undertake 19 projects at a total cost of Rs 2,441 crore, the regulatory body has reduced it to Rs 441 crore.
AERA dropped some of the projects stating that BIAL cannot charge passengers for facilities that they do not use. The regulatory body has also directed BIAL not
to include the cost of building two Metro stations in the third control period (2022-2026), casting doubts over Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd’s (BMRCL) ability
to complete the Airport Metro corridor work in the next five years.
In its submission to the AERA, the BIAL had disclosed its plans to take up 19 new projects by 2026. A large portion of the capital expenditure was earmarked for
works such as optimising existing Terminal 1 (Rs 241 crore), two Metro stations (Rs 253 crore), new domestic cargo terminal with cool port and refurbishment of
existing cargo (Rs 220 crore), office space (Rs 204 crore) and housing for the Central Industrial Security Force(Rs 369 crore) among others.
After reviewing the proposals that were submitted by BIAL to back its argument for increasing the UDF charges, the AERA has dropped eight projects and has
approved only 11 and instructed the BIAL to trim the budget.
The projects that received a go-ahead include: airside security wall, perimeter road, north-west road expansion, animal quarantine facility, new cargo domestic
terminal, refurbishment of existing cargo facility, water treatment plant etc.
The projects that were dropped from the capital expenditure in the third control period are: cycle tracks (Rs 12.89 crore), multi-modal transport hub (Rs 268 crore),
two Metro stations, parking and canteen facility (Rs 69 crore), landscape works (Rs 69.39 crore), building for administrative works (Rs 204 crore) and housing for
security staff (Rs 370 crore). The AERA also reduced the cost of terminal optimisation by Rs 199 crore to Rs 50 crore.
23/07/21 Naveen Menezes/Bangalore Mirror
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