Khawaja Qasim® replied on Saturday, August 20, 2016 03:52 PM
Some thoughts on PIA privatization
Leaving politics of PIA privatization aside, it is a classic case of not asking the right questions by anyone including media anchors or even PIA protesting employees for e.g
1. Everyone mentioned the number of employees of PIA per plane which was much higher than other airlines, however No body asked the real important question -- How much does PIA spend on employee salaries as a percentage of revenues? that is what would have cleared the issue of losses and whether they are because of over staffing or some other reason. It turns out that PIA spends just 17% on salaries whereas most western airlines spend 30-40% on employee salaries. Hence the losses are not due to over staffing. You need to look at the remaining 83% of expenses.
2. No body asked the Government minister for privatization to share the assets of PIA and the assessed price of each of that asset for anyone interested in buying PIA. The combined worth of an organization is more than than the total number of assets, but just totaling the total asset value is the start. This list should be published and available for all public and on the internet. This would mean that the process is transparent and there are no malafide intentions. For e.g the PIA office in blue area of Islamabad would be worth around Rs 5-7 billion. From what I have heard it has been assessed at Rs 5 crores in the document. Since the document is not public I cannot ascertain that.
3. PIA own 100% of Roosevelt hotel in Manhattan NewYork. I have posted its latest pictures. Its highly profitable and worth billions of dollars as its located in the most expensive real estate in the world. What is the value assessed for this hotel?
4. Has any international neutral agency been hired to assess the value of these assets?
5. What is the worth of PIA precision engineering factory in Karachi which has even contributed in the defense projects of very high importance of the country?
6. PIA owns or partly owns Hotels in Jedda, Paris, UK and in many other countries..Can we see that list?
7. I know people have their horror stories about travelling on PIA but I have traveled on PIA all over the world and found it to just as good as any other airline.
8. I dont know about the intentions, but based on the above I think "someone" will make billions of dollars in this deal, and the people of Pakistan will suffer, just like people of karachi are suffering after privatization of KESC to K-Electric. |
