Privatisation of five institutions to be completed by June 2021: minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammed Mian Soomro has announced that the privatisation process of four to five state-owned institutions will be completed by June 2021, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Mohammed Mian Soomro clarified that the privatisation process will not be interrupted by the expected political campaign of opposition parties which announced to hold long march and demonstrations across the country.

The privatisation minister said that the commission will complete the privatisation process of a national entity by December this year. He said that the incumbent government will complete its tenure and it will also collect successes in 2023.

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He said that the matters related to the denationalisation of Roosevelt Hotel owned by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be resolved soon. Soomro added that it was feared that the company will take over the Roosevelt Hotel from which the entity had acquired the loan.

He said that the debt will be paid off soon. It is pertinent to mention here that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had approved $142 million funds for paying off debt on Roosevelt Hotel earlier in September.

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The amount of $142 million had been approved for the monetary needs and maintenance of the hotel owned by the PIA in Manhattan, US, and it will take care of the loans, interests incurred and other payables of the hotel, read the declaration of the ECC meeting.

Earlier on September 28, Soomro had said that the government likely to earn 100 billion rupees with the privatisation of the state-owned entities in the current fiscal year.

Read: Issue of PIA privatisation to be resolved in accordance with law: aviation minister

Pakistan Steel Mills, Mari Gas Field, Convention Centre Islamabad, Services Hotel, SME Bank, PPL, Guddu Power Plant and power companies have been listed among the state-owned entities that will be privatised.

The government will devise a mechanism for the privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills. “A proposal also under consideration to selling the steel mills after payment of arrears against it”, the minister had said.