By IANS
Kochi : The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), India’s first airport built under a public-private partnership, might decide to levy user fees again.
CIAL used to charge a fee of Rs.500 per passenger till Dec 31, 2005. After a series of protests, it decided to do away with it.
Speaking to IANS, company secretary of CIAL R. Venkiteswaran said that participants at the annual general body meeting held here Monday wanted to reintroduce the user fee from every departing international passenger.
“Since such decisions are not taken at annual general body meetings, the decision has been left to the next director’s board meeting,” said Venkiteswaran.
The company also decided to pay a dividend of eight percent. The company will pay a total dividend of Rs.230 million, compared to Rs.164 million dividend paid last year.
“In 2005-06, the total equity base was just Rs.1.48 billion. This year the equity base has increased to Rs.2.96 billion after the rights issue at par,” said Venkiteswaran.
Sparks are sure to fly if CIAL decides to reintroduce the user fee, all the more so because its profits in the last fiscal (2006-07) touched Rs.370 million, up from Rs.310 million the previous year.
Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who is also the chairman of CIAL, presided over today’s meeting.
CIAL, the first airport outside the ambit of the Airports Authority of India, began operations in 1999 with 76 flights per week. Today, 27 domestic and international carriers operate more than 400 flights every week from the airport.
CIAL is set to pump in Rs.35 billion as part of its expansion in 18 different projects, which include a Rs.6.4 billion IT park, an aviation academy, a maintenance and hangar unit, star hotels and a golf course, all of which would come up in the 500 acres of land in the possession of CIAL.
A new state-of-the-art departure terminal will be ready in 2008, built at a cost of Rs.350 million.
CIAL was formed as a public limited company with equity participation from Kerala government and many non-resident Indians (NRIs), of which a majority are Middle East based non-resident Keralites.