Govt outsources Islamabad airport to 'favoured' bidder

The government has allegedly outsourced the Islamabad International Airport to its favoured foreign consortium after sidelining the other competitive bidder.

It is the first project of handing over control of Pakistani airports to private sector under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendations as part of a new $7 billion loan programme.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Danish Janjua said his consortium was arbitrarily denied participation in bidding for the Islamabad International Airport's public-private partnership (PPP) project.

He claimed his consortium team arrived at the designated tender submission room in the vicinity of Karachi international airport well on time despite passing through the time-consuming security checks in the wake of a suicide attack about 14-15 hours before the end of tender submission time at 3pm on Monday.

Upon arrival, he said, an impression was given that tender documents were being processed and the consortium team was sent to the waiting room. Later on at 3:05pm, the team was told that the time for submitting documents had ended.

Earlier, the consortium submitted Rs1.5 billion to become eligible to participate in bidding. It extensively worked for seven to eight months to prepare for participation in the tender.

In that regard, the consortium lodged a complaint, in writing, with the director general of airport service at the Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) in Karachi against arbitrary exclusion from the bidding process.

He voiced hope that the complaint would help provide the consortium a fair chance to file its bid. Besides, it has approached court as well.

Referring to the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Islamabad International Airport PPP project, the complainant wrote to the DG "in the course of this bidding process (since August 8, 2023), we observed significant procedural irregularities and a lack of transparency, which has resulted in the unjust exclusion of the consortium from the procurement process.

"These irregularities directly contravene the guiding principles of transparency and fairness enshrined in the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Ordinance 2002 and the Rules 2004 framed thereunder, which aim to promote transparency, healthy competition and secure optimal value for public funds by encouraging broad participation in procurement process."

In strict accordance with the RFP requirements, the consortium has provided all necessary documents to establish its qualification, including a bank guarantee dated October 7, 2024, amounting to Rs1.5 billion, which satisfies the RFP's security requirement.

The consortium stressed that its representatives arrived on time and PAA's actions constituted a calculated delay, ostensibly in a bid to prevent the consortium from participating in bidding under the guise of late arrival.

"This conduct smacks of mala fide intentions and raises serious questions about the integrity of procurement process. The deliberate obstruction suggests a preconceived intent to exclude the consortium, creating the appearance of an orchestrated effort to favour the other bidder and ensure a non-competitive process," it said.