By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Privatisation, Abdul Aleem Khan, informed the Senate on Wednesday that the government will ensure transparency in the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Responding to a calling attention notice regarding the lack of transparency in all stages of the divestment and privatization of PIA—including the financial process, issuance of expression of interest, bidding, contract awarding, and segregation of core and non-core assets and liabilities—he assured that the entire process would be broadcast live and nothing would be hidden from the public and their representatives.
He said that the pre-qualification process for PIA’s privatization would be completed soon.
He highlighted that the privatization of PIA, which has an accumulated loss of Rs 830 billion, is in the larger national interest and anticipated support from other parties for the process.
The minister explained that it is not the government’s role to run businesses, and hence, the private sector would be involved in bringing in modern, innovative technologies to turn entities into profit-oriented organizations and improve their service delivery.
Aleem Khan said that he would not engage in a blame game but acknowledged that PIA’s deficit has increased over the years.
He expressed the hope that more aircraft would be added to PIA’s fleet after privatization.
He praised PIA’s employees as some of the most efficient and believed they would contribute to the betterment of the organization in future too.
