ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) Thursday allowed hiring of a transaction adviser for award of management contracts for eight DISCOs in the first phase and approved Rs2 billion as reserve price of Services International Hotel.
An official on condition of anonymity said that Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh who chaired CCoP has expressed displeasure over the pace and directed to expedite the process as it was already very late and contributing to huge losses and accumulation of circular debt.
The Privatization Division presented various proposals regarding award of management contracts for smooth running of DISCOs in compliance with the earlier directive of the CCoP meeting of January 04, 2021. The management contracts would improve the service delivery and thus, serve the larger interest of electricity consumers in Pakistan. The Privatization Division also requested for a permission to hire a transaction adviser for completing the aforesaid tasks.
After detailed discussion, the committee directed the concerned authorities to speed up the process of completion of prior actions pertaining to award of management contracts for DISCOs and present a roadmap with firmed-up proposals within a week, after seeking requisite approval from the Privatization Commission Board.
The committee also allowed hiring of a transaction adviser as permissible under the rules.
Privatization Division presented a summary regarding approval of a reserve price for the privatization of the Services International Hotel, Lahore. The Additional Secretary briefed the committee that all codal formalities were met during the valuation process. After due deliberation, the committee approved the reserve price for the sale of Services International Hotel, as recommended by the Privatization Commission.
In his remarks, the Finance Minister, stressed the need to carry forward the process of privatization on fast track basis.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
Comments
Comments are closed.