ISLAMABAD, Mar 31 (EW): Pakistan has kicked off outsourcing of operations and land assets at three key airports to be run via a public private partnership, finance ministry said, a move to generate more foreign exchange reserves for its ailing economy.
The country’s finance ministry said in a statement that Pakistan has engaged the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation as a consultant for the outsourcing process. The ministry said, “The outsourcing of three major airports has been initiated within the room of public-private partnership […] in order to engage private investor and airport operator via a competitive and transparent way to run the country’s airports, develop appertaining land assets and improve avenues for commercial activities and to gather full income potential,”.
Pakistan’s major airports
According to Reuters, no details of the partnership, or any deal have been made official. Officials said that Islamabad has been in negotiations with Doha to jointly run terminals at Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore airports.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Qatar last year to harvest Qatari investment in the South Asian country’s aviation and energy sectors, which was followed by a promise by the Qatar Investment Authority to invest 3 billion US dollars in Pakistan. Pakistan has been negotiating the agreement with Qatar for several months as part of an attempt to find foreign investment. Pakistan’s aviation sector is struggling with PIA running accumulated losses of around 1.41 billion dollars.
