Senate session: Govt presents list of national entities slated for privatisation

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has 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, ARY News reported on Friday.

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

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.

Read: Federal cabinet greenlights privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills

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.

Mohammed Mian Soomro had 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 had 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.

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

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.

He had 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.

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.