Daily Times

The federal government decides to privatize five key government departments.

Notably, the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) took the decision in a meeting that was chaired by the adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.  CCoP approved the inclusion of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) as well as Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO).

Furthermore, he discussed five agenda items related to the ongoing privatization program of the government.

The CCoP meeting also included Lahore Electronic Supply Company (LESCO) in active list of the privatization program.

Advisor Hafeez Sheikh revealed that the government had decided to accelerate the process of privatization of some state-owned institutions as it is pondering to privatize National Bank of Pakistan and State Life Insurance.

Besides this, he affirmed that the government will revamp the administrative structure of the rest of the state-owned enterprises on a priority basis to improve their performance and to facilitate the general public.

Earlier this year, the federal government decided to privatize 49 organizations within the next five years. The decision was opened to debate and consultations in a session of National Assembly’s Standing Committee for Privatization under Syed Mustafa Mahmood.

However, the Privatization Ministry revealed that 15 companies had been struck out of the privatization list and eight had been added to it.

Moreover, Pakistan is in discussion with half a dozen companies of Russian and Chinese origin to run the Pakistan Steel Mills under public-private partnership in order to upsurge its capacity from 1.1 million to 3.5 million per year.

He added that there is a list of 41 entities which the government aims to privatize in the second phase. For this purpose, the concerned ministries and organizations have been asked to give their feedback on their privatization. Notably, no such final decision has been taken so far.