Govt to mull over transaction structure of PSM, Heavy Electrical Complex

ISLAMABAD: The federal government will mull over the transaction structure of different state-owned institutions for its privatisation in a session to be chaired by finance adviser Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Friday (tomorrow), ARY News reported on Thursday.

Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh will chair a session of the cabinet’s privatisation committee tomorrow where the federal government is likely to approve transaction structure for the privatisation of Heavy Electrical Complex and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).

Moreover, the government is also expected to approve auction of unused properties of the Centre.

Read: ECC approves golden handshake plan for PSM employees: sources

The participants of the session will review the privatisation status of National Power Parks Management Company Limited besides looking into guidelines for the head of the state institutions for ongoing privatisation programme.

Earlier on October 16, the federal government had presented the list of national entities slated for privatisation which include Roosevelt Hotel in New York owned by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), Nandipur power plant and 16 others.

A list containing names of 19 government institutions had been presented in the Senate session by the federal government which are slated for privatisation.

Read: Federal cabinet greenlights privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills

The state-owned entities include Roosevelt Hotel in New York owned by the national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Balloki power plant, Haveli Bahadur Shah power plant, SME Bank, First Women Bank, Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), Pakistan Engineering Company, Services International Hotel, Jinnah Convention Centre, Mari Petroleum, Nandipur power plant, State Life Insurance Corporation, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Giddu power plant.

Earlier in October, Federal Minister for Privatisation Muhammad Mian Soomro had announced that the privatisation process of four to five state-owned institutions will be completed by June 2021. The privatisation minister had said that the commission will complete the privatisation process of a national entity by December this year.

He had 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.