The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) should come out very clear with good reason(s) why they had to engage a private foreign company to manage the country’s airspace and collect revenue for the government. It is healthy to partner with foreign investors but their eligibility must remain crystal clear to the tax payers. The engagement of NAVPASS to collect and maintain the flow of flights in and out of Juba International Airport (JIA) has raised many questions which CAA should answer to the satisfaction of the tax-payers. In the first place they should come out to say who they are, where their offices are in the country, how much are they expecting to collect on behalf of the government annually and how much percentage will they pocket out of the total collection. The public have the right to know because they are using the planes which are being controlled and paying fare to sustain the flights which would eventually be taxed by NAVPASS. In its appearance at first, some aviation operators were up in arms because there are local competent companies which could do what NAVPASS is engaged to do and even do it better but were not given a chance. It is like the foreign company was sneaked in for services at the airport through questionable approach. That it is enjoying the protection of some aviation key players cannot be ruled out until its existence is clearly authenticated and made public. The country is moving in the transparent world where whatever is meant for public good should not be done below the table or hidden from the public. Whileit might be legal or not the only thing that CAA should do is to clear the air over the continued out of the box reports that there is more than meet the eyes in the NAVPASS deal.
