GMR notified to pay deducted concession fee of $8.2m

Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has notified the operator of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), GMR, to pay as soon as possible the $8.2m which was deducted from the concession fee it paid to the Maldivian government.

Managing Director of MACL Mohamed Ibrahim told Sun Online today that GMR had been notified on several occasions of the cancellation of the agreement made with the former government, and that the fee paid to the Maldivian government should be inclusive of the Airport Development Charge (ADC) and insurance surcharge. However GMR had not responded to these letters, thus a notification had to be sent once again.

“I have sent a letter again today asking them to pay the deducted amount. We believe that this money should be paid to us,” Mohamed Ibrahim said.

He noted the importance, as a company, to request for money that should be received by the company, and said that the government is currently in discussion with GMR with regard to this issue.

GMR has paid the concession fee owed to MACL for the first quarter of this year after deducting ADC and insurance surcharge of $8.2m.

MACL has stated that a total of $8.7m is owed by GMR to the Maldivian government as concession fee from January to March 2012. However they paid $525,355 - an amount short of $8.2m.

GMR had deducted ADC of $25 per passenger, which results in $7.6m, plus insurance surcharge of $601,148.

GMR has stated that it had agreed and proposed to the Maldivian government to exempt Maldivian passengers from the $25 ADC.

In a media statement released by GMR regarding this issue, they proposed two options to the Maldivian government. One proposition is that no Maldivian passport holder will have to pay ADC, and every departing foreign passenger will pay an ADC of $28; the other is that Maldivians travelling to SAARC countries will not have to pay any ADC, and every Maldivian Passport holder departing to countries other than SAARC and every foreign passenger will pay an ADC of $27.

The government did not respond to these propositions, but has indicated that a solution to this problem will be sought by submitting the issue to the Parliament.