Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has requested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to immediately suspend the Pakistan Airports Authority’s (PAA) Rs20 billion e-gate project. In a letter sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, the anti-corruption watchdog demanded a high-level inquiry into alleged serious violations of public procurement laws regarding the proposed award of the contract to a single private company.
According to the letter, the PAA is allegedly misusing Rule 42(f) of the Public Procurement Rules 2004 to bypass the standard international open competitive tendering process. TIP pointed out that whilst the former Civil Aviation Authority had initiated competitive bidding for the border security and biometric verification project in 2020, and the PAA had subsequently shortlisted three companies in 2024, the authority ultimately abandoned the competitive process. TIP maintained that Rule 42(f) is strictly reserved for exceptional circumstances, national emergencies, or government-to-government procurements, none of which apply to this 24-month private contract.
Furthermore, the watchdog raised serious concerns regarding the credentials of the selected private firm, stating that preliminary checks failed to verify its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the Federal Board of Revenue’s active taxpayer list, or the Pakistan Engineering Council. TIP also flagged an unsolicited proposal from a foreign firm for a passenger information system that could place an annual surcharge burden of over Rs50 billion on passengers. The organisation has urged the federal government to freeze the procurement process until a thorough investigation is completed, insisting that the critical border security project must be executed through a transparent, competitive international tender.