AERA rules out fee collection at KIA before Metro ops

BENGALURU: IN a major setback to the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) in its efforts to mop up `1,000 crore as its contribution towards the Nagavara-Kempe Gowda International Airport line, the Airports Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) has shot down its proposal to collect a development fee from departing passengers unless the line gets fully operational. It has also made it clear that the cess can only be levied inside the airport area.

Six months ago, BIAL had proposed levying an extra fee ranging between `60 and `80 on airport passengers on the user development fee (UDF) to mobilise up to `1,000 crore for the proposed line which would cost `5,950 crore. At present, domestic airport users pay `306 as UDF while international passengers pay `1,226 (service tax not included).The proposal had been sent to both AERA and the Civil Aviation Ministry for their approval.

A senior AERA official told Express over phone from New Delhi on Monday that UDF cannot be collected in case of a project which is not in use at all. “You can only term it as a development fee and not as UDF. We cannot permit BIAL to collect a fee from passengers for a service not yet provided. Why should present passengers pay for a future project?” he asked. “The same has been conveyed in writing to airport authorities,” the official added. 

The airport line is expected to begin operations only in 2021. “When trains start running to the airport, we will permit the levy of such a fee. However, even then permission would be given only inside the airport area. For works which fall outside our boundary, we cannot permit such a fee,” the official added. 
The option before BIAL presently is to pay BMRCL the `1,000 crore and mobilise it later through imposition of a development fee, he suggested. “AERA had permitted a development fee in the case of airports in Mumbai and New Delhi but a similar model cannot be followed in the case of Bengaluru as it is a privately run airport,” he pointed out. 

Meanwhile, both BIAL and top Metro officials held a meeting in Bengaluru last week in this connection. A highly placed source told Express that BIAL was now considering mulling alternate funding models to mobilise revenue. “AERA is ready to permit the fee only in the portion from the Trumpet Interchange to the airport terminals. So, a major chunk of the areas where we had planned to levy an additional cess has been left out,” the source said. 

Confirming the meeting, BMRCL Managing Director Mahendra Jain told Express, “BMRCL has been told that AERA would permit the fee hike only inside the airport area where Metro’s civil works are being done. However, the portions where our rolling stock (locomotives), depot and signalling systems are located cannot be charged,” he said. The only reason the line was routed inside the airport was to facilitate incoming and outgoing airline passengers, Jain added. “If the fee is not permitted in these areas, it will fall short of the `1,000 crore funding we are looking from BIAL,” he said. 

Elevated line 
The 29.62-km elevated airport line (Phase 2B) will be an extension of the Gottigere-Nagawara line for which BMRCL has called tenders.The State cabinet had approved the airport line on September 25, 2017 along with the proposed fee hike. The line will have stoppages at Hegde Nagar, Jakkur, Yelahanka (Kogilu Cross) and Chikkajala before entering KIA.