Caretaker Prime Minister yet to be decided; says Khawaja Asif

removed from power via a vote of noconfidence in April last year wants Pakistan to remain unstable They have targeted defence institutions only, said Asif, referring to the May 9 mayhem when defence institutions were mostly targeted The defence minister was connecting the former prime minister to Israel as Tel Aviv had recently targeted Pakistan during the presentation of the Universal Periodic Report of Pakistan at the United Nations Human Rights Council The report was unanimously adopted with Pakistan receiving commendations from various states and civil society organisations for its significant strides in advancing human rights

The Government of Pakistan has initiated the process to delegate the operations and management of Karachi Islamabad and Lahore airports – with the aim of generating foreign exchange to support the economy This development was conveyed to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Aviation by the management of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) during a meeting held on July 13 The PCAA elucidated to the Committee that it is not relinquishing ownership of the airports, but rather conferring control over their operation and management for a specified duration “Rest assured, no airport is being sold This is merely a process of delegating specific activities while retaining state ownership of the asset declared PCCA s spokesperson Saifullah Khan The transaction to any potential bidder is set to be governed under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act (2017)

Which airport is set to go first?

The PCAA, however, did not delineate which airport is set to be outsourced first The Committee also did not broach the aforementioned question during the meeting Based on the meeting alone one would surmise that all airports might be simultaneously outsourced – but that is not the case Media reports from last month indicate that the Government of Pakistan has opted to initially commence with the Islamabad Airport as they have encountered practical complexities in executing the outsourcing for the Karachi and Lahore airports for now These two are set to follow suit after the Islamabad airport has been successfully outsourced What does outsourcing an airport mean?

Outsourcing control of airports can take many forms but there are three main approaches: outsourcing airport services airport concession and lease agreements and divestiture of ownership The final option does not exist in the case of Pakistan So what about the remaining two?

Outsourcing airport services involves the state retaining ownership and control of the airport, but contracting out specific services to private companies such as cleaning maintenance or technology For instance the state-owned airport in Athens Greece outsourced its ground handling services to Swissport, a private company This approach enables the state to retain overall control of the airport while benefiting from the expertise and efficiency of private companies However it also means that the state remains responsible for the overall management and development of the airport Airport concession and lease agreements involve the state transferring most of the authority and control of the airport to a private enterprise for a long period of time while imposing regulatory conditions to protect the public interest The private enterprise pays a royalty to the state for using its assets An example of this is the 30-year concession agreement between the Brazilian government and the private consortium Invepar-ACSA for the operation and expansion of São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport This approach allows for greater private sector involvement in the management and development of the airport while still ensuring some level of public oversight Nevertheless it also means that the state has less direct control over the operations of the airport Which form of outsourcing is Pakistan taking again?

The initial meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on 31st December 2022 envisaged a twenty-year arrangement between the Government of Pakistan and the party that wins the tender for the airport Based solely on the duration of the transaction, it is likely that the agreement will be arrangement number two

(PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had been involved in a “proxy war” since his ouster from the prime minister ’s office

For one-and-a-half years Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan was involved in a proxy war, the federal minister said during Geo News show Capital Talk Asif who is also a senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) alleged that the PTI chief was fulfilling the Israeli agenda in the country, adding that Tel Aviv was worried that its “agenda” was being stopped in Pakistan The PML-N stalwart further said that the PTI chief asks his people to tweet to check the response of institutions adding that the deposed prime minister, who was

However, Pakistan slammed Israel for objecting to it, with the Foreign Office saying that Islamabad believes that Israel’s statement at the UN Human Rights Council during Pakistan s UPR review process was politically motivated

Furthermore looking back at the transactions involving the terminal at berths 6-9 on Karachi

Port – a concession agreement was agreed upon both times: with PICT in 2022, and more recently with Abu Dhabi Ports Group last month how manage affairs deciding move forward with this plan A company ”

Understanding the ownership structure There is some background needed to understand the current happening at KE The company was owned by the federal government until 2005 which is when it was privatised and sold to the Al Jomaih Group a consortium of Saudi and Kuwaiti investors When the Al Jomaih group entered the picture in 2005 they created KES Power Limited (KESP) which was a Cayman Islands company This company paid the government of Pakistan directly and acquired a 66 4% stake in K-Electric in Pakistan This essentially means that since 2005, while KE has remained a Pakistani company listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange the majority of its shares (66 4%) have been owned by KESP the Cayman based holding company In 2009 after failing to turn KE around Al Jomaih had enough and decided to exit Except it did not sell its direct stake it simply restructured the ownership makeup of KESP Abraaj funnelled over $370 million in foreign direct investment into KE through the KESP company in Cayman To date the US$360 million invested by Abraaj in KE (routed through KESP) remains the only equity FDI invested into KE as new capital used principally to fund capital expenditures driving efficiency This is where another name enters the picture Abraaj s investment in KE was undertaken through the Infrastructure & Growth Capital Fund L P ( IGCF ), a $2 billion Cayman Islands private equity fund with investment contributed by over 100 different international investors, managed then by Abraaj Investment Management

When Abraaj faced bankruptcy in 2019 management of IGCF was taken over by Abraaj s liquidator So when new investors wanted to r d i n g t o t h e n e w o w n e r s n o w looking to dissolve the holding company, minority shareholders (which includes the original Al Jomaih) have been “denying us from exercising our rights as KESP shareholders by preventing us from appointing our nominees to the KE Board of Directors, stymying the smooth functioning of KESP, whose sole function is to act as the holding company for KE and consistently and wilfully misrepresenting our plans to improve KE

The detailed statement essentially points out that despite Sage coming in and acquiring a majority stake in IGCF and thus in KESP, the minority shareholders have not been giving them their due rights In a recent conversation with Profit Shaheryar Chishty had said their aim was to come in as long-term owners and that they were not looking for a quick-flip