CAG slams govt, DIAL for losing money on Delhi airport
24 May 2012
The Comptroller & Auditor General of India has found that Delhi International Airport Ltd, which operates the Indian capital's airport in partnership with the Airports Authority of India, is losing vast amounts of revenue through under-utilisation of land granted to it at concessional rates.
In a draft report not yet tabled in Parliament but widely accessed by the media, the CAG estimates that DIAL has a potential to earn at the rate of Rs1,63,557 crore a year over its 60-year lease on the land, granted to it on a rent of a mere Rs100 per annum.
The report refers to the leasing out of 4,608 acres for development of the airport, with an additional 190 acres leased directly to DIAL at a mere Rs100 ($1.7) a year.
For the additional land of 190 acres, DIAL paid a one-time fee of Rs6.19 crore. The original agreement permitted DIAL to utilise 5 per cent of the total area of 4,799 acres for commercial exploitation, which would work out to 240 acres.
The projected earning capacity of this land in terms of licence fee over the concession period of 58 years was indicated by DIAL itself as Rs681.63 crore per year per acre.
"Thus, for the entire area of 239.95 acres, the potential earning from the land according to the calculations worked out by DIAL itself, amounts to Rs1,63,557 crore,'' the CAG says.
The draft report added that Merril Lynch has made a current valuation of land at the rate of Rs100 crore per acre. Thus even in terms of this conservative estimate, the total current value of the land available to DIAL for commercial exploitation would amount to some Rs24,000 crore.
