The government Wednesday informed the Senate that as many as 98 industrial units have so far been privatized, of which only 19 are functional. During the question-hour, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in a written reply to a question asked by Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Senator Taj Haider, said that the privatised industrial units included 7 automobiles, 15 cement, 13 chemical, 7 engineering, 6 fertiliser, 23 ghee, 8 rice, 15 Roti plants and 4 textile units.
He said that total sale price of these units from 1991 to 2006 was Rs 60,994 million. The operational units included: Al-Ghazi Tractors Limited, National Motors (Ghandhara Industries Limited), Millat Tractors Limited, Balochistan Wheels Limited and Pak Suzuki Motors Limited.
Senator Shahi Syed of Awami National Party (ANP), Azam Swati of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Taj Haider (PPP), Nasreen Jalil of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) questioned the effectiveness of privatization, saying the government should have learnt a lesson from past experiences as it is yet to recover the stuck up $800 million with regards to sell-off of PTCL to Etisalat.
Responding to questions asked by senators, Law and Justice Minister Zahid Hamid said that the government has learnt a lot which is the reason its focus is now only on public-private partnership instead of strategic sale out of state-owned entities. However, he quickly added that privatization, in some cases, has been quite successful while in other it did not bear the desired results.
To a question asked by Mian Ateeq of MQM, he said that the draft of Public Interest Disclosure Act had been approved by the Cabinet Committee, which he headed and now it would be presented before the Federal Cabinet in its next meeting and then it would be introduced in parliament. He explained the proposed law would ensure complete protection of the whistle blower and added that under the whistle blower reward scheme, announced a few months back, so far, one whistle blower, had come forward with information, which was being scrutinised.
The minister said that the current ratio of direct and indirect taxation stood at 40 percent and 60 percent, respectively, which was 32 percent and 68 percent in 2005-2006. He noted that the trend was that the indirect taxation ratio should be further brought down, as Senators Ateeq and Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldeeni of BNP-Mengal laid emphasis on reducing the massive burden of indirection taxes on the common man. Senators Nauman Wazir, Azam Swati of PTI, Rehman Malik and Usman Saifullah of PPP raised questions about the quality of milk being marketed and concerns of human health.
They wanted the government to choose one advanced country and follow its quality standards of food, adding there should be a proper mechanism to ensure meat quality. The law minister said that there were a total of 107 items on the list of Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and now its number stood at 108 after inclusion of checking quality of milk.
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