Different state agencies show reluctance to pay over Tk 3.72 billion they owe the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), officials said.
State-run Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BBA) tops the list of defaulters, they added.
It owed the CAAB over Tk 3.28 billion alone, according to the CAAB data.
As per the request made by CAAB earlier, the civil aviation and tourism ministry has asked different ministries and state agencies concerned to take necessary steps for paying dues within next 15 days and complete renewing the lease timeframe by the entities, the officials said.
Though non-payment of aeronautical and non-aeronautical charges which come from domestic and international airlines is posing an obstacle to carrying out the development activities by CAAB, the defaulters are not bothering to pay their dues, said a senior official.
Different properties owned by CAAB which are located in three airports--Dhaka, Sylhet and Chattogram--owed a large amount of lease money, but this went unpaid, according to the documents.
Besides, most of the state entities did not renew their lease, even though the lease expired long ago, the documents showed.
There is a provision to renew the lease by government agencies concerned in line with the existing CAAB lease policy-2019, an official said.
Currently, different airlines including state-run BBA and other private airlines owe CAAB in the form of charges for landing, parking, housing of aircraft and route navigation and embarkation fees, CAAB sources said.
According to the official, a huge amount of non-aeronautical charges also remain outstanding with these airlines.
Main sources of income are aeronautical and non-aeronautical charges which come from domestic and international airlines, he added.
He, however, said CAAB is facing problem carrying out its development activities due to non-payment of aeronautical and non-aeronautical charges by these domestic airlines.
Money earned as different charges is the main source of CAAB's income and expenditures on different development projects are met from that income. "As a result, we face liquidity problem implementing the projects when some airlines don't pay their outstanding charges in time," a CAAB member told the FE.
"We expect that the entities will pay existing dues soon," he said.
CAAB meets its different expenses including revenue ones from its own source and make various payments along with financing its development projects from earnings received in such way, according to the authority.
The government brought the CAAB under the corporate tax net from the fiscal year (FY) 2011-12.
The Biman authority has to pay Tk 2.59 billion and Tk 1.25 billion as income tax and no-tax revenue to the government every year.
CAAB deposited its surplus fund of Tk 8.0 billion to the government exchequer in fiscal years 2018-19 and 2019-20, the CAAB data showed.
Generally, it increases aeronautical and non-aeronautical charges aiming to boost its earnings through approval by the appropriate authorities, the documents read.
