ISLAMABAD: An important meeting of the Privatisation Division with Minister for Industries and Production has been convened to decide the SOA with the SECP along with corporate actions required for the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) transaction.
The meeting is yet to be scheduled.
The Privatisation Commission has extended the last date for submission of the EoIs and SOQs for the PSM to October 15 and 29, respectively.
The Minister for Privatisation chaired in-house performance review meeting, on Wednesday.
The federal minister was briefed about the matters relating to the PSMC.
The Ministry of Privatisation is receiving EoIs from potential investors and also arranged a roadshow with potential national and international investors recently.
The Minister Privatisation stated that the government is earnestly working for the revival of the PSMC, through the induction of capital and technology, thus, bringing the entity to operate at its full production capacity, and it is encouraging to witness that international investors with global repute have shown their interest in this investment opportunity.
Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammed mian Soomro chaired the privatisation progress review meeting.
Federal secretary privatisation and other senior officials of the ministry and the Privatisation Commission attended the meeting.
The federal minister was also briefed about the progress regarding various PSEs to be privatised in the current fiscal year, and which have also been made part of the Performance Agreement of the Division.
The federal minister stated that privatisation is a major part of the current government’s economic reforms agenda, and urged all concerned to expedite the resolution of issues, which might hinder the timely completion of these transactions.
He informed the participants that the focus through privatisation is multi-pronged; it is not only profit- incentive but also to bring more efficiency in various public-sector entities, reduce losses, and create employment, debt reduction, and poverty alleviation.
The entities that were discussed in the meeting are included in the active privatisation list, and most of them are at advanced stages of privatisation.
These entities include: SME Bank, House Building Finance Corporation (HBFCL), Convention Center, and the NPPMCL, etc.
Final bids (and response) are linked to market conditions.
In the end, the federal minister urged the officers/officials to make all out efforts to resolve the related issues, so the targets could be achieved in the stipulated time and also in an efficient and effective manner.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021