LAHORE: Aviation and Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Sunday that an agreement has been signed with the New York City government to operate the famous Roosevelt Hotel of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in New York for three years. Addressing a press conference at the Allama Iqbal International Airport here, the federal minister said that the country will get $220 million in revenue as a result of the agreement. Detailing the deal, he said the hotel’s 1,025 rooms would be handed over to the New York City government for three years and that the hotel had started generating initial revenue, with one year of business guaranteed under the deal. However, he hoped that the business of the hotel would continue for three years. He said that the Roosevelt case involved several issues, such as the threat of the hotel being declared a landmark after which the building could not be replaced. However, this danger had been averted for at least three years now. The minister said the hotel was previously closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and $25 million was being spent on the closed building and $20 million was owed.
He said that 479 employees were working in the hotel which was a large number and it was difficult for the hotel to fire them due to US labor laws. However, after the agreement, this number will be reduced to 77 at the end of the contract period. He thanked the New York City government for its support. Regarding the outsourcing of airports in Pakistan, the minister said that three international airports Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad are being outsourced and clarified that outsourcing does not mean privatization. First, Islamabad Airport will be outsourced. He said that only the operation of the airports will be outsourced and not the land or property. As a result of the arrangement, the new contractors will develop, improve and operate the airports and the contractors will hand over the airports to the government after the contract period is over.
He said that the current administration has put it on track and agreements with the best international airport operators will be signed soon. International Finance Corporation (IFC), a trusted company of the World Bank, was given the task of outsourcing airports as no Pakistani company had experience in this regard. He said that several airports including Medina, Istanbul, Dubai and others are being operated through the model being introduced in Pakistan. The minister said that the contracts will be awarded through open bidding and several international contractors are showing interest in this regard. He clarified that no employee will be fired. Khawaja Saad said that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is also launching high-profile projects in which the runways of Quetta Airport will be reconstructed and upgraded. He said that the runway of Faisalabad is already under construction which will become operational soon and the runway of Lahore Airport will also be upgraded. He said that the work of upgradation of Karachi Airport is already underway while Gwadar International Airport is also under construction and will become operational soon. For the first time, the Hajj operation from Quetta Airport is going on successfully and the people of Balochistan are going for Hajj through this airport. Two more airports Sukkur and Dera Ismail Khan will be converted into international airports for the convenience of the citizens of the region.
Talking about the grounding of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) KB 777 by authorities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the minister said that PIA’s legal team resolved the issue within 72 hours and now The plane has reached Pakistan. Passengers. Giving details, he said that the plane was a leased plane and the owner company unethically went to the Malaysian court, on which the court confiscated the flight in the previous decision. There was no hearing of PIA, if the court had heard PIA, this incident would not have happened. He thanked the Malaysian Ambassador to Pakistan for his cooperation. He said that PIA is a complex case, many steps are needed to upgrade the department. Some improvements were made to the flights such as better quality of food, seating and services, but many other things were needed.
He said that currently PIA is transporting 65 thousand pilgrims in a big operation. He said that outsourcing is the solution to many problems of PIA, the airline can be included in two sectors. PIA will assume responsibility and be governed by other international standards and models. No employee of PIA will be dismissed. Responding to a question about the ban on PIA in various countries, he said that the country is losing Rs 71 billion annually due to the foolish statement of a former minister, whose administration has some ego issues. were He said that the government is contacting the governments of other countries to solve this problem. The British government had also agreed to resume flights, but some legislation was needed in this regard, which would be done soon.
He said that PTI considers itself a party of pious people and all others are thieves and this narrative hurt PIA because the former minister wanted to say that previous governments were made up of thieves and recruitment during these laws. All the employees were also thieves and corrupt. He said that the issue of fake degree was exaggerated. In response to a question, he said that the global model has changed and the world now understands that doing business is not the job of governments. It was the businessmen’s job while the government’s job was to regulate the system. He added that a country that focused only on its regulations rather than doing business, made great progress.
