Government agrees to a deduction from concession fees payable by GMR

The Maldivian Government has acceded to a demand by GMR Group to deduct a total amount of 28 US Dollars per passenger using the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, Malé, every year, from the concession fees payable by the GMR to the Government.

GMR demanded the deduction, following a Court decision during December 2011 saying that GMR could not charge 25 dollars as Airport Development Charges (ADC) and 3 dollars as Insurance Charges from the passengers.

The demand was made on the basis that if GMR was not legally allowed to charge the amount from the passengers, they should be reimbursed for the loss by a deduction of the same amount from the concession fees payable to the Government.

Mohamed Shihab, Minister of Finance, said yesterday that the Government agreed to the deduction because income from ADC and insurance charges were included as part of the concession fees in the original agreement made between GMR and Government under which the management of the Airport was contracted to GMR.

The Minister said that this new arrangement would mean a loss of some 3 million US Dollars for the Government per month. He said that the Government was, therefore, getting ready to appeal the decision of the Civil Court.