Privatisation of Sindh unutilised assets can fetch over $37 billion: Prime Minister

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that Sindh has the potential to generate through privatisation of unutilised assets more than 37 billion dollars, enough to pay off entire foreign debt.
Aziz was speaking at the distribution ceremony of "Achievement awards to leading industrialists and renowned personalities, 2007" held at the Sindh Governor House on Saturday evening.
Referring to a comment from Sindh Minister for Labour, Transport, Industries, Commerce and Co-operation Adil Siddiqui, the Prime Minister said that there were enough idle assets in Sindh that might be privatised and the sale proceeds utilised for retirement of debts.
He said that the national economy was in good hands. It was growing. "If looking back 1999, we had inherited problems of complex nature and to find out solutions was not easy." He added. He said "we were living tranche to tranche," and hastened to add that they believed in finding out solution of their problems as no one would come to them to find out a solution.
He said that the series of reforms in all the departments were carried out paid dividends. There were liberalisation, privatisation and corporatisation in all the sectors with a view to systematising management practices and business principles.
He said things were changed with a little bit of vision, and sense of direction. "Banking sector was suffering from bad debts, politicised administration and banking practices, poor customer services, inaccessibility to services and several other factors that contributed to services had brought financial institutions at the verge of disasters," he said, adding Rs 20 billion to Rs 25 billion were pumped in, and revolutionary measures were taken to make the sector healthy. It had now improved. He said that Pakistan had a robust banking sector today.
He said still there was room for improvement in the consumer lending services, agricultural finances and housing finances. "These areas are weak and in need of concerted efforts to make them effective."
He said that telephone industry and telecommunication sectors were progressing. "Teledensity has reached 60 percent, tariff rates have come down, employment opportunities in the sector have increased manifold, investment - domestic and foreign - has increased and there is overall an atmosphere of investment friendliness."
He said: "Investment comes when the investor sees and finds a stable government, continuation of its policies and continuation of reforms, good governance and support to good business practices. All these ingredients of a prudent investment and business-friendly policy are there and investors can take advantage of this situation."
He said that inflation was a challenge and food prices were going up, but this was a natural phenomenon. "When many people chase few things this phenomenon takes place. It is good sign and shows that our people have money and their purchasing power has improved. This is a sign of improved economic health."
He said: "We do not appreciate people who contribute toward making quality of life better. We do not recognise their work and fail to appreciate people who need encouragement."
He said that recognition of good work and words of appreciation gave energy to work better and improve upon previous performances. "People need encouragement." He said Pakistan was an exciting country with potential to grow and prosper. "This is an exciting country to be in."
He said that today''s programme was to acknowledge good work done by the members of the business community toward the growth of economic activity in Pakistan. The Prime Minister also unveiled the plaque to inaugurate construction of a labour complex of 3,008 flats in the low-income area of Karachi.
He gave away awards and letters of appreciation to 34 industrialists, including two stockbrokers Arif Habib and Abdul Karim Dhedi and two builders - Rufi builders and Saima builders. Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Federal Minister Babur Ghauri, Sindh Industries Minister Adil Siddiqui and Pakistan Muslim League (Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain were also present.