- Key says the governorate’s responsibility is education and health.
- “Four interested groups wanted to participate in the PIA bid.”
- The PIA sale faces a hurdle as the only bidder offers less than the government minimum.
ISLAMABAD: Responding to the interest of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab governments in acquiring Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), former Finance Minister Muftah Ismail said there are no state-run airlines anywhere in the world.
“There is no government in the world that runs airlines,” Muftah said while speaking at the conference, strongly criticizing the provincial governments’ proposals to buy the national airline. Geographic News “Naya Pakistan” programme.
The federal government’s latest attempt to privatize the struggling national airline failed after the sole bidder, Blue World City, offered just Rs10 billion for a 60% stake in PIA against the minimum asking price of Rs85 billion – flatly refusing further negotiations.
This bid failure marks Pakistan’s second attempt in a decade to divest the flag carrier, with a similar effort reportedly ending prematurely in 2015. News.
In the wake of the fiasco, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government – in a bid to keep PIA within the national fold – has expressed “serious interest” in participating in the bidding process for the sale of the national flag carrier.
In a letter to Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan on Friday, the KP Investment and Trade Board expressed their willingness to make a bid that would exceed the current highest bid of Rs10 billion.
Later, in the wake of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Party’s suit, the Punjab government led by Maryam Nawaz also expressed interest in acquiring the national carrier.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told PML-N supporters in New York that his minister daughter urged him to buy PIA and rename it Air Punjab.
Commenting on these developments, Muftah said that he did not know that any governorate had an airline.
“The province’s responsibility is to provide education, health and comfort to the people,” he said, expressing his regret that the provinces “do not collect a single penny of taxes but seek financial assistance from the Centre.”
In response to a question about the disastrous failure of the privatization process achieved by the Public Investment Authority, the former Finance Minister claimed that the privatization was accompanied by “such advance orders” that discouraged buyers.
He also noted that four “interested” groups wanted to participate in the bidding process for the national carrier.
The collapse of PIA’s privatization comes as Pakistan faces increasing pressure from the International Monetary Fund to reform its fiscal policies.
Under an IMF loan programme, Pakistan has committed to divesting in loss-making state-owned enterprises such as PIA to help stabilize its economy.
Although the International Monetary Fund expected the sale of PIA to be completed by September, the government delayed the auction deadline several times — from August 14 to October 1, and then to October 31 — reflecting declining investor interest.