Pakistan considered a second bailout package on Thursday to save the New York Roosevelt Hotel, owned by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of Pakistan proposed setting up a committee to approve the hotel’s second $36 million bailout package.
Four months ago, the committee had approved $142 million to clear the immediate financial requirements of the hotel, and another $13 million as annual carrying charge until a lease agreement with a venture partner is finalised.
In 2019, Pakistan risked losing valuable land properties abroad, namely the Roosevelt Hotel and therefore the Scribe Hotel (also owned by the PIA) in Paris, after a court within the British Virgin Islands enforced a world arbitration decision involving a disputed mining license. The case involved two multinational mining firms — Barrick Gold and Antofagasta.
Barrick Gold and Antofagasta requested ownership of the hotels as compensation for the cancellation of a copper and gold mining licence, according to a TRT article earlier this month. The companies claimed that they were wrongly prevented from extracting minerals, while Pakistan argued that irregularities were present in the project.
