Committee reconstituted to outsource airports of Pakistan

Aftab Ahmed

Islamabad: Aviation Division has managed to remove advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Razak Dawood from a committee working on outsourcing major airports of Pakistan.

The new committee has been formed now under the chairmanship of Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan that would prepare recommendations to outsource airports.

Sources told Newztodays.com that Aviation Division had proposed to the government to shelve a  the committee working under the chairmanship of advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Razak Dawood. It also proposed to form a new committee under the aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

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The government has shelved a committee working under Dawood, and formed a new committee to deal with the outsourcing of major airports of Pakistan.

Pakistan Airport Authority

The government is working on setting up Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA).It prepared Pakistan Airport Authority Bill 2020.

Considering the sensitivity of operations and involvement of strategic assets — the airspace – the organizational segregation of Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) shall be undertaken by establishing two separate authorities, namely Pakistan Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority (PCARA) and Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA).

The government will entrust PCARA with regulatory functions, while PAA shall look after the airports’ commercial and operational assets. The it will also carry out incorporation of two authorities in sync to ensure a smooth transaction and minimal impact on operations.

The aviation division will also replace Civil Aviation Ordinance 1960  with the new civil aviation act 2020, encompassing all international commitments concerning aviation activities globally. Meanwhile, government will amend the Civil Aviation Authority Ordinance 1982 to exclude airport services and air navigational services.

The government will transfer Airports and air navigation assets from the existing Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority to the newly established Pakistan Airports Authority by law. Meanwhile, it will under the process of outsourcing airports in two phases.

In the first phase, the government will corporatize according to the government’s decision to attract private investors. It will also engage an audit firm to work out the most efficient structure for the airport’s authority.