Performance of state-owned entities (SOEs) was dissatisfactory during the one year of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf''s (PTI) government against its claims on Sunday. The report of achievements compiled by the Privatization Division and submitted to the Prime Minister focuses on proposals rather than on any concrete achievements with no transaction completed since the federal cabinet approved the new privatisation programme on October 31, 2018.
The report claims that the Privatisation programme was revived with a focus on retirement of debt and poverty alleviation after three years of dormancy. However, the website of the privatisation division reveals that the last transaction of National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC) was completed on January 26, 2017 during the tenure of Pakistan Muslim League (N).
Privatisation Commission has a 10-member board that was constituted by the then PML-N government. On August 8, 2019, the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) reportedly expressed dissatisfaction at the performance of Privatisation Division due to far too slow sell-off process. Privatisation Division claims that implementation of the privatisation programme is at an advanced stage and is likely to fetch Rs 200/300 billion during current financial year 2019-20. The government is expecting to realize Rs 141 billion from privatisation of two planned LNG plants. Privatisation Division has placed eight entities on active list and expects to complete the process in one and half years but no specific time frame of completion of these transactions was given in its performance report. These include two re-gasified liquefied natural gas RLNG Power Plants; Revival of Pakistan Steel Mills; two hospitality sites in Islamabad (Jinnah Convention Centre) & Lahore (Services Int''l Hotel); and other unproductive properties owned or controlled by Federal Government.
Another 41 entities have been put in phase II scheduled for completion in four years.
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