ISLAMABAD: Minister for Privatisation Daniyal Aziz on Wednesday briefed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Privatisation on the process of privatising the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and said he would share the transaction plan with the committee at its next meeting.

The government plans to complete the transaction by mid-April.

The decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation of PIA will be forwarded to a full-fledged meeting of the cabinet for ratification.

Says he will share the transaction plan with the committee at its next meeting

Mr Aziz reiterated that the liabilities along with the management would remain under the control of the government. No property belonging to the PIA would be put on sale, he said.

All steps regarding sale and purchase of the PIA assets would be treated strictly in accordance with the parameters prescribed under the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Act, 2016, he told the committee which met under the chairmanship of Syed Imran Ahmad Shah.

Mr Aziz said that privatisation of the PIA was quite different from other transactions wherein 51 per cent shares of the national flag carrier would remain under the control of the government. In this way, the federal government would remain the capital shareholder even after the privatisation.

It was recommended that the committee be briefed in its next meeting about the procedural steps and recommendations made by the Financial Advisory Consortium for privatisation of the PIA.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2018