Pakistan government decides to privatise two mega power plants
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*ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar chaired meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) here Tuesday.*
The Secretary Privatization Commission made a detailed presentation to the committee on the privatization program pursued by the government over the last two decades.The committee discussed the objectives and rationale of the privatization program.
It was noted that only one entity was privatized during the last five years, apart from divestment of shares in a few already privatized entities.
The committee gave the go-ahead to Privatization Division to undertake the process for privatization of newly established 1233 MW Balloki Power Plant and the 1230 MW Haveli Bahadur Power Plant.
The CCOP also approved the proposal for privatization of the following entities: (i) SME Bank Ltd (ii) First Women Bank Ltd (iii) Jinnah Convention Centre, Islamabad (iv) Lakhra Coal Mines (now Lakhra Coal Development Company) (v) Services International Hotel, Lahore.
The committee noted that the listing of a large number of entities on the privatization list for more than a decade had been detrimental to their operations as these were neither privatised nor any serious effort was undertaken to revitalize them.
After detailed deliberations, it was decided to delist Pakistan Steel Mills, PIA, Pakistan Railways, Utility Stores Corporation, NHA and CAA from the Privatization list.