Maldives parliament Thursday passed to introduce a new airport fee which would see every departing foreign passenger from the country's main airport pay an Airport Development Charge (ADC) of USD25.
The government proposed bill was passed with 48 lawmakers voting in favour while 20 voted against.
However, despite including locals for the ADC, the parliament compromised to slash the fee to USD12 from every departing local passenger.
The new fee would add to the current airport service charge -- USD25 from foreign passengers and USD12 from locals.
However, diplomatic passport holders and children below the age of two 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.
