A consortium led by Germany's Lufthansa Consultingsigned on 25 July a four-year, Eur 2.5 million ($3 million) contract to provide technical assistance to the Transport Mission for the privatisation of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The team, which also includes the Irish Aviation Authority and Societe Francaises d'Etudes & de Realisations d'Equipment Aeronautiques (Sofreavia), will advise on the restructuring of the CAA to enable it to deal with the opening up of the sector. It includes the introduction of new management systems and human resources policies. The consultant will also assist in the development of new aviation regulations covering licences, tariffs, consumer protection and technical codes (MEED 25:6:04).

Funding is coming from the EU's support for regulatory reform and privatisation (SRRP) programme, which aims to encourage the privatisation of the public sector by strengthening the capacity of regulatory authorities. In 2002, Brussels agreed to grant Eur 20 million ($24.1 million) to Amman from the programme.

The Lufthansa contract is the third privatisation advisory contract to be signed in Amman under the SRRP in recent months. In April, Spain's SchlumbergerSema was awarded a Eur 3.7 million ($4.4 million) technical assistance contract for the restructuring of the Electricity Regulatory Commission. That followed the award last November of a Eur 4 million ($4.8 million) technical assistance contract for the upgrading of the Executive Privatisation Commission (EPC) to Germany's Pohl Consulting & Associates.

Pohl is among eight companies shortlisted by Amman for another SRRP-funded contract, to advise on the restructuring of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (see Telecoms; MEED 25:6:04, Cover Story).