The project is unique among ADB interventions in the Pacific. It involved setting up a regional organization from scratch, using a regional loan guaranteed by four Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) members. While the concept was innovative, the first lesson is that a regional project can raise a variety of new issues. Inception was delayed by lengthy procedures for parliamentary approval of two of the guarantees. As of 2011, there is a risk that the organization could eventually fail unless a secure funding basis can be established in the near future. Longer-term counterpart support needs to be built into the project design, so that short-term funding crises do not dominate operations and threaten the ability of the institution to offer technical services.
Establishment of the Pacific Aviation Safety Office Project (Pacific Region)