Govt to privatise 49 public sector concerns

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to privatise 49 organisations within the next five years. The decision was made in a session of National Assembly’s Standing Committee for Privatisation under Syed Mustafa Mahmood.During the session, Secretary for Privatisation Rizwan Malik gave briefing. The Privatisation Ministry said that 15 companies have been taken out of the privatisation list and eight have been added to it.Pakistan is in discussion with half a dozen companies from Russia and China to run the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) under public-private partnership and increase its capacity from 1.1 million to 3.5 million per year.The committee was informed that the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) and the PSM have so far racked up combined losses of around Rs600 billion, of which the PIA losses stand at around Rs400 billion.Financial year 2007-08 was the last year when the PSM posted profit of Rs9.5 billion. It ran into losses both in the PML-N and the PPP eras. Since then, its financial health has deteriorated. In June 2015, it was closed. The mills current total losses are around Rs200 billion.Secretary Privatisation Rizwan Malik said that the government has decided to privatise 48 state-run entities, adding PIA and PSM are in the list. He said, “The steel mills will be sold on public-private partnership, to enhance its production capacity from 1.1 to 3.5 million tonnes per year.”However, among other more than a dozen public sector enterprises, PIA has been put off the list of privatisation programme and the government is making hectic efforts to bring this national flag carrier into a profitable entity.He further said that in next one and a half years, the government would give seven public entities in private hands that include SME bank Limited, First Women Bank Limited, 1,223 MW Balloki Power Plant, 1,230 MW Haveli Bahadur Power Plant, Mari Petroleum Limited (divestment of remaining shares), Jinnah Convention Centre, Islamabad, Lakhra Coal Mines (now Lakhra Coal Development Company) and Services International Hotel, Lahore.The privatization secretary, while briefing the arliamentary panel, said that the government has decided to privatise around four-dozen state-run entities in two phases.He further said in first phase, in next one-and-a-half-year, the government would give eight public entities in private hands that include SME bank Limited, First Women Bank Limited, 1223 MW Balloki Power Plant, 1230 MW Haveli Bahadur Power Plant, Mari Petroleum Limited (divestment of remaining shares), Jinnah Convention Centre, Islamabad, Lakhra Coal Mines (now Lakhra Coal Development Company) and Services International Hotel, Lahore.When The News contacted the Secretary Privatization, he said that the government has recently delisted 15 entities of the privatization list and Pakistan Steel Mills and PIA are also included in that list. He added that for the Pakistan Steel Mills’ running under PPP mode, the Ministry of Industries and Production would execute that process and in discussion with the Chinese and Russian Companies. Aviation division is also working hard on the restructure of the PIA.He said that other entities which have been delisted of the privatization program are National Bank of Pakistan, Industrial Development Bank Limited (IDBL), Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO), Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan (USC), Pakistan Steel Fabricating Company Limited, National Highways Authority (NHA), National Construction Limited (NCL), Prining Corporation of Pakistan (PCP) and Pakistan Railways and its allied facilities, factories, workshops etc.He further said there is a list of 41 entities which the government plans to privatize in second phase, however the concern ministries and divisions have been asked to give their views on their privatization.

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