Daily Times

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a meeting with a seven-member delegation of Privatisation Commission of Pakistan led by Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammadmian Soomro, said that his government was supporting two RLNG power projects and banks’ privatisation if the rights of employees and consumers were protected properly.

Federal Minister Mohammadmian Soomro led delegation comprising Member Privatisation Commission (PC) Khurram Shahzad, Financial Advisor PC Rabial Akhundzad, Samreen Zehra, Consultants Asad Rasool, Zayed Maud and others called on Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah here on Friday at CM House.

The chief minister was assisted by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, SMBR Qazi Shahid Parvez, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Energy Musadiq Khan and secretary investment.

The minister/ chairman of Privatisation Commission, Mohammadmian Soomro, said that the federal cabinet had finalised some of the projects, banks and real estate assets for privatisation. He added that since those projects were national assets, therefore he wanted the take provincial governments into confidence for their privatisation.

Murad tells federal minister for privatisation that rights of workers, consumers must be protected properly

Soomro said that the projects for which bids have been invited include two RLNG based power plants at Havelli Bahadur Shah and Balloki, respectively. He added each of the plant has the capacity of generating 1230 MW electricity. The other projects were SME Bank Ltd and First Women bank, he said.

The chief minister said that the power tariff of both the powers plants must be protected so that the private party, after privatisation, could not charge high rate for power generation. He added that similarly, the commission has to protect the employment and rights of the employees working there.

Murad Shah said that as far as SME Bank and First Women bank privatisation was concerned, he repeated his request for protecting the rights and employment of the people working in the bank. He also insisted on processing the entire privatisation process transparently and his government would be supporting the commission.