Does a DIAL, seeks govt nod to levy ADF on passengers.
Just over a week after the Centre allowed the GMR-led consortium developing the Delhi airport to impose airport development fees (ADF) on passengers, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) today made a similar demand citing a funding gap of Rs 2,000 crore.
MIAL, a joint venture between a consortium led by GVK group and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), is implementing the Rs 9,800-crore Mumbai airport development project.
"We are facing a funding gap of Rs 2,000 crore. We have requested the government to allow us to levy an airport development fee to bridge this gap," MIAL managing director G V Sanjay Reddy told reporters here today. Reddy was speaking on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the development work of Terminal 2A at Mumbai’s Sahar International Airport. Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel kick-started the project.
MIAL has asked for approval to levy an airport development fee of Rs 350 from domestic passengers and Rs 1,300 from international passengers flying out of the Mumbai airport, Reddy said.
"We are hopeful that the government will approve it. There are several mechanisms for filling the gap such as hiking aeronautical revenue, charging user-development fee and airport development fee," he said, adding that "airport development fee is one of the options”.
MIAL, which has currently engaged global auditing firm PwC to audit its accounts, will go in for new auditors in the next financial year, Reddy said. "A decision in this regard will be taken by our board," he said, adding that MIAL has decided to have joint auditors.
The new integrated passenger terminal at Sahar is expected to be completed in three phases by 2012. The first phase is expected to be completed by 2010 and the second by 2011.
The terminal building will have a total floor area of around 4.3 million square metres across four levels.
The highly-flexible gating plant and terminal arrangement will ultimately accommodate 40 million passengers -- both domestic and international -- per year.
It will also offer 184 check-in counters, 14 baggage claim belts and 52 contact positions with passenger boarding bridges.
About 7 lakh sq ft will be reserved for retail shops, food and beverages outlets, lounges and other travel services.
