Two committees that will oversee the process to concession the nation’s major airports have been inaugurated by the federal government.

The committees namely: the Project Steering Committee and the Project Delivery Committee, were inaugurated by the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, in his office in Abuja, on Friday.

He said the Project Steering Committee, of which he is the chairman, will provide the general direction, and steer the course of Public Private Partnership project concessions in the aviation sector.

Sirika explained that the driving force behind government’s resolve to concession the airports was the over-riding national interest in ensuring the establishment and sustenance of world class standards in both infrastructural development and service delivery.

He said some of the reservations being expressed by people about the exercise were born out of “misconception that concession is synonymous with privatisation”

The aviation minister clarified that the airports remained the properties of the Federal Government and that more jobs will be generated at the end of the day.

Terms of reference for the committees include: “approval of technical, financial and legal framework for the successful preparation and execution of the concession; provision of policy guidelines and general direction on all matters relating to concession of projects and programmes in the aviation sector.

Others are to “consider and facilitate necessary permits, clearances and approve action plans, budgets and financial requests submitted by the Project Delivery Committee.”