ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Aviation on Tuesday sought a detailed briefing by the Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited (PIACL)'s Board of Directors on financial stability plan and future vision to transform the national flag-carrier into a profitable entity.
The committee under the chairmanship of Senator Mushahidullah Khan, was briefed by the PIACL Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Air Marshal Arshad Malik on reports about closure of the airliner's Roosevelt Hotel in New York, besides financial constraints and capacity issues of the airliner. He apprised the Committee that the PIA was not going to sell the hotel, but it would be closed down by December 31 for its renovation and future utility plans.
The PIA CEO said the Privatisation Commission had been approached through the federal government, which would hire a financial consultant through an international tendering process to devise future course of action, considering all the available options.
The meeting was informed that it would be decided later that whether necessary renovation or repair work would be carried out or the existing building would have to be demolished for reconstruction and raising a 100-storey hotel for which local bylaws were conducive. It was further apprised that the PIA's Roosevelt Hotel, a 19-storey building located at a prime location, was acquired in 1978 on partnership, from its own profits and as a part of the PIA diversification strategy.
In 1999, he said, it acquired 100 percent shareholding at $36.5 million from its own resources and without an aid from the government. The property had more than a thousand rooms, having an area of 43,313 square feet, adding it was run by the world's premier Hotel Management Company, Interstate Hotel and Resorts, USA. The committee was told that current market value of the hotel, assessed by M/s Deloittee, was $662 million based on the highest and best use.
The financial position of the hotel had been in the "Red", mainly due to debt servicing, unionization, dilapidated building, infrastructure, rooms and public area conditions, which needed immediate upgrade and major repairs in light of severe weather conditions.
The PIA CEO said the declining business of the hotel further aggravated due to the coronavirus pandemic, which could increase the loss to $6 million per year. The chairman of the Committee said that the PIA should consider reopening of the routes where the COVID issues had been addressed especially Japan and China.
He said that Committee would support the positive development and initiatives of the PIA administration for the betterment of its services as the airliner was passing through a tough time. The committee also took up a harassment case of PIA, and listened to both the parties.
Senator Sherry Rehman was of the view that the accused of harassment, who was posted as HR manager in PIA, should be repatriated to its parent department with recommendation to hold a fresh inquiry against the officer. "It is a classic textbook case of harassment and the officer be removed from his post and sent back to its original organization," she observed. After in-camera hearing, the Committee recommended to send Kamran Anjum to his parent department keeping in view of harassment case proven against him.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
Comments
Comments are closed.