Decision to resume privatization process of PIA.
ISLAMABAD: The second attempt to privatize national airline PIA is all set with several returning bidders and parties participating in the process.
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The meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatization was chaired by Farooq Sattar, in which it was informed that in the previous round, the bidders had waived the 18% GST levied by the government on induction of new aircraft and fleet expansion. had recommended, they believed that the removal of this tax would facilitate the acquisition of new aircraft.
The committee was told that the liabilities of PIA are Rs 45 billion, of which Rs 26 billion are tax liabilities of FBR, Rs 10 billion are due to Civil Aviation Authority and the remaining amount is pension liabilities.
The IMF agreed that if PIA is privatised, the 18 per cent GST could be removed to encourage private sector investment in new aircraft.
The committee was further told that non-core assets are not part of the PIA bidding process, the government is making a separate policy for these assets for which the consultant has suggested two to three options to the Cabinet Committee on Privatization.
It’s not my responsibility to run or fix PIA, I can’t sell it: Privatization Minister.
Federal Minister for Privatization Abdul Aleem Khan has said that it is not my responsibility to run or fix Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), but my responsibility is only to sell PIA.
Speaking to the media in Lahore, Abdul Aleem Khan said that the entire process for the privatization of PIA had been completed, there is no option to change the framework of privatization of PIA.
He said that it is not my responsibility to run or fix PIA, my responsibility is only to sell PIA, people cannot bear the loss of PIA, so they are selling it.
He said that who is responsible for bringing PIA to this situation? Buying or selling PIA is a different matter, I have no option to deviate, PIA had a loss of 830 billion rupees and the process of privatization of PIA had already started before I came.
Abdul Aleem Khan said that PIA is a national asset, it cannot be sold separately, being a representative of the government, it cannot be sold for free. PIA privatization was set up in the caretaker government.
He further said that the KP government said we want to buy it, it is not saying sell PIA at a loss, all four provinces want to take PIA together, then it is a very good thing, if it is run properly, PIA It is a very good airline, when I used to go to UK, I used to use PIA.
Privatization minister said don’t teach me business, who has not sunk PIA, those who did everything with PIA are teaching me.
It should be noted that the company that was the sole bidder for the purchase of PIA had refused to increase the amount.
The Privatization Commission had set the minimum price of PIA at Rs 85.3 crore while the sole bidder had bid Rs 10 billion to buy 50 per cent stake.
