Pakistan outsources Islamabad Airport to boost forex reserves: Report
forex reserves, according to a report published by Dawn quoting sources. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has convened multiple meetings of the committee formed to engage foreign operators for outsourcing. He told the stakeholders to finalize formalities to outsource the operations of Islamabad International Airport (IIA) by August 12. On Saturday, Dar chaired a meeting of the steering committee for assessing the progress of airport operations outsourcing.
The committee had given explicit instructions to complete the necessary procedures for IIA outsourcing as a priority, Dawn reported. After the meeting, an official statement announced that World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC), the transaction adviser for the outsourcing briefed the meeting on the progress. The meeting agreed to fast-track IIA’s outsourcing to improve service delivery in line with best industry practices. The Economic Coordination Committee on March 31 decided to kick off the 25-year outsourcing of operations and land assets at Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi airports.
Their functions will be run through a public-private partnership to generate foreign exchange. The finance minister, in the meeting, also gave a deadline to departments concerned for finalizing amendments to civil aviation laws and a plan for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) restructuring, as per Dawn reports. The amendments are being made to segregate the functions of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, PIA, and Airports Security Force.
The objective is to eliminate overlapping responsibilities of these organizations by enacting ordinances. Dar emphasized getting amendments approved by the parliament before the end of July.
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