Pak's Civil Aviation Authority to be bifurcated: Report

Headed by the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Razak Dawood, the cabinet committee will on Wednesday discuss threadbare formalisation of the organisational structure of the CAA by creating the Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority and the Pakistan Airports Authority, reports Dawn news.

An informed source told Dawn news that the government's segregation plan included outsourcing of different airports of the country in two phases — corporatisation of the airports in the first phase for attracting private investors and completion of this transaction in the second phase by involving the Privatisation Commission and appointing financial advisers and investment banking firms.

The decision to segregate the CAA was taken by the government in view of the sensitivity of the operations and involvement of strategic assets.

Therefore, one entity will be entrusted with the job of regulatory functions while the other will develop and manage functions of the airports.

The upcoming cabinet committee huddle will be the fifth such meeting on the issue and after that the CAA board is also likely to meet.

The decision to set up two authorities was reached during one of the meetings of the cabinet committee in view of the fact that only six of the 44 airports are profitable.