ISLAMABAD – PM Shahid Khaqan on Friday gave the formal go-ahead for theprivatisation of two major yet loss-making state-run entities — PakistanInternational Airlines and the Pakistan Steel Mills — apparently on thepretext of ‘restructuring’.
He granted the related approval while presiding over a meeting of theCabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) at the Prime Minister’s Office.The development takes place at a time when the government has expedited theprocess to privatise state-run entities — including the Civil AviationAuthority (CAA).
As five new airlines plan to enter Pakistan, PIA stands to lose During arecent meeting with a select group of journalists including thiscorrespondent, the prime minister strongly advocated the privatisation ofPIA and CAA, saying PIA was incurring a loss of Rs150 million daily to thenational kitty.
He also said that CAA lacked the capacity to run ‘modernised and advanced’airports like the New Islamabad International Airport whose operationsneeded to be ‘outsourced’ (to the private sector).
“Have a look at the condition of washrooms at our airports, if CAA is notcapable of maintaining toilets, what else is it capable of?” he had asked.A PM Office press release said the meeting discussed issues related to PIAand PSM.
“After a detailed presentation on PIA and the discussion that followed, theCCoP gave the go-head to the proposal for initiating the restructuringprocess in PIA,” the press release said. “It was decided during the meetingto segregate the core and non-core functions of the organisation.”
Minister for Privatisation Daniyal Aziz gave a detailed presentation onvarious issues, including financial challenges, faced by the twoorganisations, and the possible way forward for addressing those issues onpermanent basis.
The prime minister in his remarks observed that past mismanagement andneglect of the two important organisations had not only resulted in thecreation of huge financial liability, on annual basis, for the governmentbut also caused great difficulties for the employees of the organisations.
The meeting discussed in detail various administrative, financial andemployees related issues of PSM.A proposal for PSM entering into a ‘concession’ agreement with investors,on revenue sharing basis, also came under discussion, the statement said.
The prime minister directed that all options should be explored and acomprehensive plan should also be worked out for addressing employeesrelated issues, it added.