BANGALORE: There’s more bad news for frequent flyers who are already grumbling about the steep hike in toll on the road to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The state cabinet on Thursday ratified the decision to hike the user development fee at the KIA.
Though the exact hike is not clear, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra said it could be around `25 to `30.
The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority, which has representation from the state government too, has already approved the proposal for increasing the user development fee. “The Cabinet has today just ratified the decision which has been taken with consent from the state government,” Jayachandra told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
The minister defended the hike saying the project agreement has a provision for annual increase in user development fee. Moreover, the increase is necessary as the the airport is set for a huge expansion due to rapid increase in passenger traffic, he said.
The airport now handles around 11.40 million passengers a year. It is set to almost double in the next few years, Jayachandra said. An additional investment of `4,000 cr is expected to ramp up the infrastructure at KIA. The user development fee hike has been necessitated keeping in mind all these aspects, he said.
“The government’s share in the KIA consortium is 13 per cent. The airport capacity is being almost doubled in the next 2-3 years. We need to provide necessary support to meet the future needs of KIA,” Jayachandra said.
Bangalore will soon get a superspeciality hospital for liver transplants. The Cabinet agreed to provide `5.47 cr as initial amount to procure high-tech medical equipment for the hospital.