ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed several committees aimed at revamping the economy and boosting investments in the country in the wake of the financial crisis.
As part of the reforms, a committee has also been established to look after the process of privatization of the state-owned Pakistan international airlines and the outsourcing of airports.
This committee is headed by the defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif and comprises other members including ministers for privatization/Board of Investment, foreign affairs, planning and development, aviation and privatisation.
The committee’s mandate revolves around outsourcing the management of major airports in the country besides monitoring the matters related to PIA’s privatization which has entered into the final phase.
A day earlier, Finance Minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb had said that the privatisation of the national carrier would be completed by June.
As far as the outsourcing of airports is concerned, it was earlier announced that three of the airports i.e. Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore, Islamabad International Airport, and Jinnah International Airport Karachi would be outsourced for improving the services offered to the flyers.
Regarding the national carrier, statistics imply that the estimated annual losses are over Rs100 billion, prompting the lawmakers to find a solution to finally get rid of the entity that was once an asset.
The calls for privatizing the airline were made during the previous regime and the follow-up deliberations also led to promulgation of the Privatisation Ordinance to remove the role of high courts in privatization transactions aimed at avoiding legal hitches.
The state-owned Pakistan International Airlines has been under fire for denting a severe blow to the national exchequer and facing hiccups due to multiple factors. Time and again, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) freezes its accounts while Pakistan State Oil (PSO) also refuses to supply oil to the carrier.
The airline recently settled a dispute with an Indonesian firm and got possession of one of its aircraft though the airline failed to prove itself sustainable in the long term which has forced the policymakers to finally do away with it and hand it over to a private investor.
