ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet after a thorough discussion has constituted a committee to prepare a legal framework by June 30 to outsource the country’s major airports to bring them at par with the international standards.
Briefing the media persons about the decisions of cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan the other day, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said the government was looking for some international firm that had an experience to operate and manage the airports. The objective of the move is to bring Pakistan’s airports up to the international standards with the provision of all those facilities that were available at the major airports of the developed countries, he added.
Shibli Faraz said the cabinet meeting was informed that some firms had already shown interest in the matter. A legal framework would be devised before tendering process starts. The committee headed by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan and comprising Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari, Adviser to the PM on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan, Adviser to the PM on Commerce, Trade and Industry Abdul Razzak Dawood and the Board of Investment (BoI) chairperson as members, would fast-track the process.
The minister said the cabinet discussed the issue of provincial water share and decided to install the latest telemetry system to ensure transparency in the water distribution. He said in the past some vested interests had been creating hurdles in the installation of telemetry system.
The cabinet, he said, noted that the performance of the members of Indus River System Authority (IRSA) from Sindh, Punjab and the Federal Capital was not up to the mark, and decided to hold an inquiry against them and if found guilty, they would be replaced with efficient and honest persons who would ensure running of the telemetry system in a transparent manner.
He said the cabinet approved the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting of May 13 allowing mobile phone manufacturing in the country and 50 percent federal subsidy on the wheat procurement for Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
He said Pakistan’s economy depended on the agriculture. The PM attached special attention to the agriculture sector as it could boost the national economy after the coronavirus crisis. The cabinet gave approval to a special package for the agriculture sector.
He said Rs 37 billion subsidy was being given on the fertiliser, while Rs 8.8 billion was allocated to reduce the interest rate , Rs 2.30 billion for cotton seed and Rs 6 billion for cotton pesticides, and Rs 2.5 billion for locally manufactured tractors.
