ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission Wednesday reviewed the ongoing progress on privatisation programme including privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).

Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammedmian Soomro chaired the privatisation progress review meeting in the ministry, Wednesday.

Federal Secretary Privatisation and other senior officials of the ministry and the Privatisation Commission attended the meeting.

The federal minister was briefed about the progress regarding ongoing privatisation programme including Jinnah Convention Center (JCC), House Building Finance Corporation Limited (HBFCL), First Women Bank, Pakistan Steel Mills, Pak Re-insurance Corporation, NPPMCL, and others. 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.

The federal minister was also briefed about the matters relating to the Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC), out of eight, six interested parties/investors have submitted statement of qualification and after the approval of SoA with the SECP the bidding is expected in March-April next year. It was briefed that the minutes of the CDA board meeting regarding the status of JCC are awaited to move forward. For the sale of remaining Federal Government properties, the FASA terms are being discussed with top-ranked IP. The issues related to the divestment of up to 20 percent shares of Pak Re-insurance (PRCL) are being taken up with the Ministry of Commerce and the PRCL and the Federal Minister for Privatisation will hold a meeting with the Advisor to the PM on Commerce, to discuss the matters related to the aforementioned divestment.

The federal minister was briefed about the current status of House Building Finance Corporation (HBFCL), the Ministry of Privatisation will issue expression of interest (EOI) for investor after approval of summary regarding the HBFCL Board of Directors (BoD) from the PM and the Cabinet; the summary has already been forwarded to the PM office in this regard by the Finance Division. Moreover, the board meeting of First Women Bank was held and auditing firm has been appointed to complete the audit of three preceding years to complete the privatisation.

It was also briefed in the review meeting that the reference price options for Heavy Electrical Complex will be placed before the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP), as the bidding/transaction for the HEC is to be completed in the upcoming month. The RFP, regarding initiation of the process for the replacement of the GoP excess equity and loan through commercial borrowing has been finalised in consultation with the stakeholders, to be initiated by the NPPMCL.

The federal minister was also briefed about the transaction status of other entities including Pakistan Engineering Co (PECO), State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC), Sindh Engineering Limited (SEL), Guddu and Nandipur power plants.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021