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THE Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) is set to be split into two distinct entities – an aviation and regulatory unit – in order to improve its efficiency. It is believed that unbundling CAAZ, which is among a raft of Government measures that are designed to restructure parastatals that fall under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, is part of international best practice to separate regulatory and aviation functions.
Currently, CAAZ has eight divisions – air navigation services, airports, flight, safety standards, air transport development, corporate services, finance, and human resources. Last week, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo told The Sunday Mail Business that the restructure will help to improve the entity’s operational efficiencies.
“In the case of CAAZ, you may be aware that it is heading for a split with the aim of improving its provision of services. “The draft Bill is still being considered by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation . . .
“Go to Kenya, South Africa, England and anywhere, regulatory and aviation operations are separated, there are two entities. “Nothing really changes (when the unbundling takes place), apart from the operations. “There is already a regulatory division and management division and these will be split.
“Staff will remain the people who are there but operations will be separate with each division focusing on its duties,” explained Dr Gumbo. It is also understood that negotiations between Air Zimbabwe and CAAZ to centralise the collection of the passenger service charge (PSF) and the aviation infrastructure development fund (AIDEF) – commonly referred to as the departure fee – are currently underway.
Travellers have had to endure the inconvenience of paying separately for air fares and departure fees. “There were some logistical challenges on the modalities of handling the PSC and the AIDEF, resulting in the decision to have these important charges in the smooth running of airports being collected directly from passengers at the respective airports,” explained Dr Gumbo.
CAAZ charges US$50 for the AIDEF. The Democratic Republic of Congo levies the highest departure fee in the Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) at US$87 while Botswana has the lowest fees of US$16 for both domestic and international destinations.
The December 2014 decision by CAAZ to separately collect departure fees was prompted by Air Zimbabwe’s tendency to retain funds collected on behalf of the Authority.
Online Reporter