Govt plans cess for airport development

New Delhi: Days ahead of the Union budget, the government today said it was considering imposing a cess on air travel in order to fund development of non-viable airports and air routes.
"We are proposing in future to have a cess to support viability gap funding for development of non-viable airports and air routes," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters here on the sidelines of a conference on infrastructure.
The minister, however, clarified that the proposal was at a very nascent stage although the government was actively working on it.
"What we are trying is to either redefine the existing passenger service fee (PSF) or have an additional levy. There may be a change in the nomenclature," he said.
The minister said the Naresh Chandra Committee has already recommended such a cess, though its quantum was yet to be decided as also the timeframe.
05/02/07 Chennai Online

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Categories: airports feb 2007, General Aviation feb 2007