Pakistan bars citizens of Israel, India in outsourcing of airports

Plan to outsource airports prepared in light of cabinet panel proposals

ISLAMABAD:

With a plan to set up Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA), the government has placed a bar on involving citizens of Israel and India in the process of outsourcing Pakistani airports.

The defence division had expressed apprehensions and demanded that involvement of nationals from both the countries in the process of outsourcing airports should be banned.

During the committee meetings, a representative of the Ministry of Defence had sought restriction on the involvement of citizens of Israel and India to work at the country’s airports and having access to sensitive information.

It was emphasised that necessary measures should be taken through legislation so that no compromise is made on security matters. In a recent meeting, secretary defence division had clarified that in subsequent discussions with aviation division, the observations of defence division had been addressed and that it had no objection to the outsourcing process.

The plan of outsourcing airports had been prepared keeping in view the recommendations of the cabinet committee that held six meetings and had made recommendations in this regard. Considering the sensitivity of operations and involvement of strategic asset — the airspace – the organisational 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 PCARA shall be entrusted with regulatory functions, while PAA shall look after the commercial and operational assets of the airports. The incorporation of two authorities shall be carried out in sync to ensure a smooth transaction and minimal impact on operations.

The Civil Aviation Ordinance 1960 shall be replaced with new civil aviation act 2020 which will encompass all international commitments with respect to aviation activities globally. Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority Ordinance 1982 will be amended to exclude the functions of airport services and air navigational services.

Airports and air navigation assets will be transferred from existing Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority to the newly established Pakistan Airports Authority by law. Meanwhile, the process to outsource airports will be undertaken in two phases.

In the first phase, the airports will be corporatised according to the government’s decision for attracting private investors and an audit firm will be engaged to work out the most efficient structure for the airports authority.

In the second phase, the transaction shall take place through the Privitisation Commission by hiring a financial adviser/investment banking firm. The title of lands shall remain with the state and will only be leased out, while air navigation and flight operations will also remain with the government.

Functional separation of PCAA will be carried out by implementing structural reforms in the organisation to ensure independent working of regulatory and commercial and operational functions. This arrangement shall remain intact until the pre-requisites for segregation of the authority are finalised.

The aviation divisions in this regard completed a few tasks assigned by the cabinet within the stipulated timeframe, while two draft bills have been prepared and are ready for submission to the CCLC.

The authorities concerned continue to work on proposed organograms, separate plans for manpower establishment, budget allocation and bifurcation of assets for both the entities. The authorities had proposed amendments in PCAA service regulation and deliberations on separate prescription of CAA operational national regulations pursuant to ICAO annexures continue.

The PCCA board had principally approved the functional separation of the entity in its meeting on July 29, 2020.