Parliament Thursday voted to accept the government proposed bill to introduce a new airport fee for every departing passenger from the country's main airport.
The bill which was accepted with 53 lawmakers voting in favour looks to introduce USD25 as an airport development charge (ADC) from every departing passenger from the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA). The new fee would add to the current airport service charge -- USD25 from foreign passengers and USD12 from locals.
However, diplomatic passport holders would be exempt from the new fee.
During the debate most opposition lawmakers had opposed the new fee insisting that the government must look to exempt all locals from the ADC.
Government lawmakers however, countered by saying that ADC was universal and was pivotal to the current airport expansion plans.
In his budget speech, Finance Minister Ahmed Munawar had said the ADC – an estimated MVR565.8 million next year – will be used to set up a “sovereign development fund” as a long-term fiscal reserve to repay debt.
