ISLAMABAD: The Privat-isation Division will hire services of financial advisor/advisors who will decide the fate of the proposed privatisation plan of Roosevelt Hotel in New York owned by a subsidiary of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), a parliamentary panel was informed Wednesday.
The committee was informed that the President of US Donald Trump had also shown interest in the privatisation of Roosevelt Hotel in New York.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Asif, informed the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Privatisation that Trump also expressed interest in buying the luxury hotel.
PIAIL Managing Director Najeeb Sami endorsed that the US President "is still interested in the purchase of [the] hotel".
He further disclosed that Roosevelt had been profitable for years.
However, the hotel suffered a loss of $1.5 million in 2019.
Privatisation Minister Muhammad Mian Soomro informed the committee that various options were currently being looked into regarding the fate of the Roosevelt, adding that a financial adviser will take the decision regarding leasing out the hotel.
The PIA-owned 19-storey hotel with 1,025 rooms plus allied facilities in New York is considered a valuable property that also carries cultural significance for Pakistan.
Criticising the statements made by officials of the PIAIL, Khawaja Asif said that the arguments presented in the committee were entirely different from the statements made in the courts of law.
He said that some influential were part of Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) who were running real estate business abroad.
He said his party was not against the privatisation of loss-making entities, if government safeguards the interests of the employees of these entities.
On the basis of six studies held by reputable international firms, the government has reached a conclusion that Roosevelt Hotel should be leased out for a long-term period, the committee was informed.
Roosevelt Hotel is 100 percent shareholding of the PIAIL, a subsidiary of PIALC.
The officials states that the hotel has been in losses since 1996 as compared with other international hotels owned by the PIA.
The committee was informed that other hotels had earned hefty revenue of $427 million. Khawaja Asif said that the hotel received an offer of $320 million, which was reduced to $280 million during tenure of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
He said his party also tried to sell out the PIA during its tenure. The committee was informed that massive investment was required for renovation and upgradation of the hotel. He asked the chairman to make sure that the parliament would not be bypassed on any matter related to privatisation of state-owned entities.
In February 2019, Cabinet Committee on Privatization directed to carry out the feasibility study for appraisal of various management/financial options for gaining optimal returns from the hotel.
The committee directed to share the Deloitte's report with the committee before the next meeting.
The ministry informed that a financial adviser was being appointed for evaluation and advice on different options.
The committee suggested that it was not the right time to make any decision regarding the Roosevelt Hotel due to Covid-19 effects on economy and business environment. Moreover, it will not be a wise decision to sell assets and invest in a business, which is making losses.
In a briefing to the parliamentary panel, secretary Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Hassan Nasir said that in January 2020, around 54 pilots were grounded on their suspicious credentials.
He said that 450 out of 498 pilots of the PIA were on an active list and inquiry was in progress against 262 pilots.
He further said that the flying licenses of 28 pilots were cancelled and 58 more licenses would be cancelled.
Foreign airlines and countries also connected with the authority for clearance of Pakistani pilots working abroad with the aviation sector.
The secretary Aviation Division briefed the committee about ongoing issue of suspected licenses of pilots.
He informed that in 2018, a pilot pointed out some anomalies in exams of pilots conducted by the CAA.
A committee was constituted in February 2019 to investigate the matter and the report was finalised in June 2019, which was submitted to the prime minister.
The Committee was also informed that the authority is further investigating the matter. The other international airlines are also referring cases for verification of licenses of Pakistani pilots working in these airlines; the authority has issued the clearances after necessary verification.
Officials of the PIA disclosed that they received a list of 141 pilots for inquiry of their credentials.
All the suspected pilots were barred from flying the airplanes.
The PIA management terminated 20 pilots from the services upon the result of the inquiry.
Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan hinted that the number of pilots whose educational degrees and licenses were suspicious were more than 252.
So far, 58 were suspended after issuing show causes notified to them.
9th meeting of the Standing Committee on Privatization was held under the Chairmanship of Syed Mustafa Mahmud, for detailed briefing on performance of the Pakistan International Airline Corporation, overall performance of the PIA (Investment Limited) and Roosevelt Hotel, New York, with regards to its privatization.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
Comments
Comments are closed.