GMR, the Delhi international airport operator, is planning to renegotiate the securitisation of the airport development fee (ADF) it charges from fliers following the halving of the fee by the regulatory authority.
The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (Aera) has halved the development fee to Rs100 per outbound domestic passenger and `600 for international travellers.
Also, while reducing the ADF, Aera has extended the period for collecting the fee by two years to 2016, instead of the originally scheduled 2014.
Based on the collection estimates made in accordance with the existing fee structure, GMR had securitised about Rs1,400 crore ADF collection from banks to meet the gap in cost of airport development.
The company has drawn about Rs1,000 crore from the loan and the balance Rs413 crore is still with the banks pending disbursal, which is subject to the future costs of development.
The cut in fee would not have any impact on the total ADF collection as the collection period has been extended.
“As the lower rate of development fee is coupled with the extension of time period, it does not impact the total amount of the fee collected. Hence, there will be no impact on the means of finance for the modernisation of the Delhi airport,” the company said.
“The original securitisation was done based on the ADF collection till 2014. Now that there is an extension of the collection till 2016 with a reduced ADF, the company has to go back to the banks for reworking on the repayment schedule,” a company official said.
