Daily Times

The Cabinet Committee on Privatisation on Thursday decided not to sell the Pakistan International Airlines-owned Roosevelt Hotel in New York and announced to run it under a joint venture with a third party.

The decision was taken by the cabinet committee which met under the chairmanship of Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh. The meeting also denotified a task force formed for the sale of the hotel. The committee also agreed to appoint a financial adviser to help the government move towards initiating the joint venture. The committee directed the Privatisation Commission to hire a financial adviser to start the process for the transaction in the light of a report from July 2019 which recommended that the highest and the best use of the Roosevelt Hotel Property is to redevelop the site into a mixed use of primarily office tower over retail and condominium. It was also directed that M/S Deloitte will update its study on the hotel transaction in the next four weeks and the same will be shared with the CCoP.

The meeting was attended by ministers for communication, law and justice, privatisation and power and advisers on commerce and investment and institutional reforms and austerity. A special invitation was also given to the minister for industries and production and the State Bank of Pakistan governor, among others.

On Wednesday it was reported that the CCOP was taking up the privatisation of Roosevelt Hotel, Manhattan, New York, which is owned by the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The summary for the privatisation of the Roosevelt Hotel was prepared by the Aviation Division.