The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is mulling over theprivatisation of 10 more State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) including ZaraiTaraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), two gas utility companies and Utility StoresCorporation (USC) amid slow progress.

Any entities put on this list would be an addition to dozen and a halfentities that have already been selected for the purpose.

According to local media reports, ZTBL, and entity that can be privatisedin the next phase, is the only specialised bank lending money to theagriculture sector.

The other entities that have been proposed for privatisation are UtilityStores Corporation, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL), Sui NorthernGas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation,Pakistan Expo Centres Private Limited, Pakistan Environment Planning andArchitectural Consultants Private Limited, Overseas Employment CorporationPrivate Limited, National Investment Trust and National EngineeringServices Pakistan Limited (NESPAK).

After holding meetings with the line ministries, the Ministry ofPrivatisation will present the list before the Cabinet Committee onPrivatisation for its formal endorsement. Reportedly, this list was alsopresented before the last Cabinet Committee on SOEs meeting.

It may be noted here that the government has dropped Pakistan InternationalAirlines (PIA) from the list whereas the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) wasadded to the list again in June 2019 after being dropped earlier.