July 29, 2021: Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammedmian Soomro chaired the weekly privatisation review meeting in Islamabad today focusing on the progress so far made in the transaction of various entities to be privatized.
Federal Minister was briefed that the hiring of financial advisors for the sale of remaining properties has been initiated as the EOIs to that effect had already been published.
The Expression of interest for the open bidding/auction of Services International Hotel Lahore is going to be invited in the first week of August 2021. The transaction is likely to be completed in the first week of September. Moreover, the transaction of NPPMCL is also pursued and a series of meetings with stakeholders are held on an almost daily basis to resolve the debt and equity matters. For that purpose, a plan of action is already agreed upon regarding debt-refinancing for the plant from local commercial banks.
The transaction of the Jinnah Convention center is underway, the pre-qualification of bidders is completed and Privatisation Commission (PC) is moving ahead and also meeting with CDA, completion of this transaction is expected by the end of this year.
The meeting reviewed the difficulties being faced in the privatisation process of SME, HBFCL and First Women Bank Limited. The summary regarding transaction detail of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) would be presented before CCoP in its next meeting. In the end, the current status regarding the privatisation of DISCOs was also discussed.