Blue World City, holding over 200 FIRs, submits sole Rs10bn bid for PIA acquisition

ISLAMABAD: Blue World City, the sole bidder in Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) privatization, submitted a bid of Rs10 billion for a 60% stake in the national flag carrier during the ceremony held at the private hotel in Islamabad on Thursday.

The Privatisation Commission confirmed that Blue Group of Companies, a consortium of real estate giant Blue World City, submitted the lone bid, way below the commission’s reserve price of Rs85.03 billion, approved by the cabinet.

A total of six groups had earlier been shortlisted to bid including Airblue Ltd., Arif Habib Corporation Ltd., Air Arabia’s Fly Jinnah, Y.B. Holdings Pvt., Pak Ethanol Pvt., and real estate consortium Blue World City.

Bids were required to be submitted by 1:30 pm, but other shortlisted groups opted against providing the necessary earnest money before final bidding, and hence, disqualified from submitting a bid.

According to the Business Recorder, Blue World City, which also owns Blue World Aviation and IRIS Communication Limited, was also looking into acquiring operations of the Islamabad International Airport, which the government is looking to outsource.

Earlier, investigative journalist Shahid Aslam claimed that around 215 FIRs were registered against the Blue World City owners with charges ranging from murder, illegal weapons, and land grabbing.

Journalist Shahid Aslam further reported that the management of Suno TV, owned by the Blue World City is run by retired Generals – Arif Waraich and Sajjad Rasool – who served in ISI.

“Gen (retd) Arif Warraich served as the DG SCT (ISI) in 2014-15 and is now serving at a Director level in Suno TV’s management. While Gen (retd) Sajjad Rasool served as DGS Security & Administration in ISI, and he is also part of the core management team at Suno TV,” the journalist claimed.