PIA’s privatization hangs in the balance

ISLAMABAD: The privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) hangs in the balance after entering the final stage, according to government officials.

The officials said that out of about five bidders now there was only one and they also had offered just 10 billion rupees and refused to hike the offer from Rs10 billion  for 50pc shares against the government’s expectation of fetching over Rs85 bn.

The bidder is Blue World City which has told the government authorities that it would be unproductive for it to raise the offer for PIA with so many leakages. The company was given time to reconsider the offer but it came back with a strong refusal.

Now the matter will be sent back to the Privatization or presented before the privatization committee of the federal cabinet for a final decision.

Meanwhile, former chairman Senate and PPP leader Raza Rabbani raised questioned over the process of privatizing the PIA. He said that initially there were five or six companies but at the end there was no clue to others except one. He said that the process of privatization of PIA lacked transparency and the matter should be taken up in parliament.

Former finance minister Mifta Ismail said that the government has failed in the privatization of PIA. He was of the view that the government should have kept the reference price reasonable. He said if the national flag carrier was not sold out, its liabilities and losses further go up.