The Pakistani government has declined to endorse an advisory service agreement with an arm of the World Bank Group for handing over Pakistan’s three international airports to a foreign country.
The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet deferred the approval of the agreement and instead cleared an Rs6.2 billion payment as part of the Reko Diq mines settlement deal. The committee also authorized a loan of Rs65 billion to make share payments by the federal government on behalf of the Balochistan government.
The IFC – an arm of the World Bank Group – was being hired to prepare a transaction structure for the outsourcing of the airports at a consultancy cost of around $4 million. However, some cabinet members questioned the motive behind bringing the transaction advisory service agreement to the ECC, saying it was not the right forum. Other members objected to certain clauses of the draft agreement.
In 2019, Qatar showed interest in managing, operating, and developing the New Islamabad International Airport, Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport and Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. However, the aviation ministry has delayed the transaction under different pretexts for many years.
Separately, the ECC cleared a summary regarding arranging a finance facility to fund the Balochistan government’s share of obligation in the Reko Diq project dispute settlement. In 2019, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes slapped a $6.5 billion fine on Pakistan in favor of the M/s Tethyan Copper Company Pvt for the country’s failure to implement the Reko Diq copper-gold mineral resources development project.
, an arm of the World Bank Group, to outsource Pakistan's three international airports to a foreign country.){kind=link}