Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has expressed concern over slow privatisation process, and asked the concerned authorities to do more to meet the target of 2006-07. Sources said that the Prime Minister wants sell-off of at least five major public sector oil and gas distribution and exploration and production companies before the closing of the current fiscal year.
The sale of at least gas sector public sector within the current fiscal year is also necessary for the government to give the impression to the international donors which are pressing Pakistan to walk out of all kinds of business and sell the public sector entities no matter how important they are either they fall in the category of strategic assets or not that Islamabad is strictly following the policy of openness and privatisation and deregulation.
Shaukat said in a meeting at Prime Minister House on Saturday last that he wanted to see implementation of three-pronged strategy of liberalisation, deregulation and privatisation in an effective manner to make sure that the government's agenda of openness and private sector's driven economy completes on priority basis.
The meeting, according to sources, was attended by senior officials of Privatisation Commission, Planning Commission and Ministry of Petroleum and its subordinate departments. The heads of SSGC, SNGPL and other oil and gas sector companies also attended the meeting.
The government is targeting a number of major transactions for sell-off before the end of current fiscal year. The approved privatisation list includes PSO, PPL, SSGC, SNGPL OGDC, power producing and distribution companies, besides several other key companies, which are great attraction for investors. The Privatisation Commission officials have, time and again, announced to complete many of them before June 30 this year. But the task appears difficult after reversal of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) sell-off.
In a number of cases the Privatisation Commission has extended date of submission of documents to avoid litigation. Its officials openly concede that it is now very difficult for them to go for bidding in any case unless all parties agreed on the schedule and other terms of the bidding.
SSGC and SNGPL, whose slow process of privatisation is worrying the Prime Minister, are typical examples. The Privatisation Commission had short-listed parties for both these companies several months ago, but their issues, such as inter-departmental payments and legal issues, are hampering the government's efforts for early sell-off. The officials also concede that whatever the urgency might be, it's not possible to offer any public sector company for bidding without resolving thorny issues.
Comments
Comments are closed.