ISLAMABAD (February 09 2010): Minister for Privatisation Waqar Ahmed Khan on Monday said that the dispute of payment of $800 million between Etisalat and the government of Pakistan would be resolved in March. The Minister stated this at a press conference here. He expressed hope that the issue would be resolved next month and $800 million would be released to Pakistan soon.

He said that international investors on the sidelines of Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FODP) meeting held in Dubai expressed willingness to participate in the privatisation programme of Pakistan. "The Privatisation Commission will re-assess the value of national assets on privatisation list through fresh appointment of financial advisors to realise true sale potential of the public sector entities," he said, adding that 23 out of 80 public sector enterprises were currently on the list of privatisation.

"Once the evaluation process is completed after 90 days of the appointment of financial advisors, the results will be shared with investors interested in privatisation of public sector entities in Pakistan," he added. "We want to realise maximum potential of the state-owned enterprises (SOE) by enhancing their cash value through value-addition, besides enhancing their efficiency and competitiveness for getting higher prices in the privatisation process for the benefit of the country", he added.

Giving example of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Oil and gas Development Company (OGDC), he said that as per cash flows of these companies, the value stands at 2.5 billion dollars. "If we take 10 percent as market cap while determining the value of such companies, these companies can attract $25 billion, he added. He said that strategic investors had shown interest in Pakistan's privatisation programme and they have surplus funds to invest in privatisation of public sector companies.

He said that the Privatisation Commission Board was being revamped and all four provinces would be given representation on the board including renowned jurists, journalists, bankers, academics and women for transparent decision making.

He said that the policy of privatisation of 26 percent shares along with management control would help realise more price of public assets as the private management would restructure and improve the efficiency of the public sector enterprises and would increase the value of the government's shareholding in such PSEs. "President and Prime Minister wanted to empower the employees of the institutions and the launching to Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme (BESOS) was an effort to achieve this objective, he said.

He said that it would make the workers responsible in further improving the overall performance of the entity and their representation on the Boards of Directors would directly involve them in the decision making process.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010