ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Privatization and Statistics, in its meeting, has observed that hurried privatization of PIA will land the next government in trouble and the current government that has only four months left in the office should not privatize the national flag carrier.
The committee recommended that carving out process may be conducted and evaluation procedures may also be followed but the actual privatization should be put off till the next government takes office.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Mohsin Aziz at the Parliament House and was attended among others by Senators Nasreen Jalil, Saleem Mandviwala, Malik Najmul Hassan, Saeedul Hassan Mandokhel, Minister for Privatization Daniyal Aziz, Secretary Privatization and other representatives from the ministry.
The committee was given detailed briefing on privatization of Pakistan Steel Mill and the fate of its thousands of employees. The committee was told that the mill has 11,500 employees and a total of 188 billion liabilities.
The committee was told that the transaction model approved by the Board of Privatization Commission will be a 30 year lease plan of the plant and the core land of Pakistan Steel Mills. The committee observed that the federal government should have Sindh government on board regarding the lease agreements so that no issues arise later regarding land of the mill.
The committee was assured by the minister that committee’s concerns as to why UBL and HBL were given 6-7% discounts during sales of shares will be responded to in detail in the next meeting.
