The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the civil aviation regulatory body of the country, is to be divided into two separate autonomous entities.
Preparations are afoot to make the existing CAAN into two bodies – regulatory body and the body responsible for developing the civil aviation infrastructure.
Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Maheshwar Neupane, while addressing the 19th-anniversary program of CAAN here on December 31, had said that CAAN would be split into two different autonomous bodies to make it into a more professional and effective regulatory agency.
Established 19 years ago, CAAN has been fulfilling the responsibilities of looking after the aviation services and safety, air transport and surveillance as well as the development of airport infrastructure, air transport provided by the state as per the CAAN Act, 2053 BS.
"The professional development of the Authority and improvement of its regulatory mechanism are the topics that had been in discussion before this also. This step is a part of the efforts to make the regulatory body more professional and effective as per the policy and principles of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)," he said.
When CAAN trade union representative Shrawan Kumar Yadav asked in the public function whether it was a ploy to finish off the CAAN by splitting it, Secretary Neupane said it was not to finish off the CAAN but works in this regard had to be moved ahead to meet the ICAO standards and the welfare of the employees would be taken into consideration while doing so.
He urged the CAAN office-bearers to proceed ahead with the works in this regard rather quickly.
