Major overseas Pakistani group Al-Nahang has put forward an amount of more than Rs1.25 trillion for PIA privatization. Based on reports from ARY News, the offer submitted to the higher government functionaries includes the Ministers for Privatization, Aviation and Defence.
Key Takeaways from the PIA Privatization Offer:
Al-Nahang’s road map involves a comprehensive remedy to revitalize the badly ailing national carrier. Most importantly, the settlement of PIA’s arrears worth Rs 250 billion. No losses of jobs, the group categorically told him instead, but rather salaries will double over a period of 30 months.
Apart from this, Al-Nahang also aims to modernize PIA’s fleet by getting the latest aircraft. They also intend to take PIA as an engineering and maintenance company and offer their services to other airlines.
Provincial Interest in PIA
This comes barely a week after the KP government expressed interest in the PIA privatization process. The KP Investment Board has also sent a letter to the Federal Minister for Privatization expressing their intent to participate in the bid.
In a separate development, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said that it was his daughter, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who came up with the thought of grabbing PIA and rebranding it as “Air Punjab.” Sharif said he made that plan to transform PIA into a state-of-the-art, competition-standard airline.
Only one contender, the real-estate company Blue World City, filed its final bid for the privatization of PIA. This amount was an unbelievable Rs 10 billion for 60% shares, which is only one-tenth of the government’s minimum requirement of Rs 85 billion.
Now that Al-Nahang has placed such a big offer on the table, it can change the direction of privatization. The rationale behind the offer is based on financial stability and employee welfare, which may be the very elixir to revive the ailing airline.
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