Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Chief Minister (CM) Ali Amin Gandapur wrote a letter to the federal government on Friday, expressing interest in participating in the privatization bid for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
As per details, the federal government had announced the privatization of PIA through a bidding process last month. This privatization is a part of a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package. The federal government had announced that it would sell 51-100% shares of the debt-ridden PIA in September 2024.
The Privatization Ministry set the minimum price of PIA privatization bidding at PKR 85 billion. Initially, the bidding process was scheduled from October 1 to October 31, 2024. However, the federal government scheduled the bidding on October 31, 2024 and it was covered by Pakistan Television (PTV) to ensure transparency.
A total of six groups were announced as qualified by the Privatization Ministry for the PIA bidding but only one company Blue World City was the sole bidder which proposed PKR 10 billion only for a 60% stake in PIA. This offer is far below the offer set by the federal government.
Economic experts have expressed concerns over the disparity between the bid from Blue World City and the minimum bid price set by the federal government. Experts hold that the government may take other strategies into consideration for the airline’s privatization. The absence of other five groups raises questions about the government’s ability to uphold the agreements.
It is worth mentioning here that KPK CM Ali Amin Gandapur had directed the KPK Investment Board to write a letter to the Federal Minister for Privatization Abdul Aleem Khan, expressing the government’s intention to participate in the PIA’s bidding process. In the letter, the KPK government claimed to have given a better bid offer to the federal government than the one Blue World City offered to the government.
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