February 22, 2019: The Senate Standing Committee on Privatization, was informed on Friday that the Privatization Commission had so far managed to generate revenues of Rs 649 billion through its divestment operations, while during last five years it earned Rs 176 billion by selling off five State Owned Entities (SOEs).

The meeting which met here under the chairmanship of Senator Mir Muhammad Yousaf Badini, was briefed by the Privatization Commission Secretary on the transactions of SOEs in last 20 years.

The meeting was informed that in 2014, the government divested 19.6 percent shares of UBL and earned revenue of Rs 38.224 billion whereas through divestment of 70 million shares of PPL, and 131 million shares of ABL, it earned around Rs 30 billion in the same year.

Similarly in 2015, the government earned 102.365 billion by selling off 610 million shares of HBL, while in the same year, by selling 88 percent shares of National Power Construction Committee (NPCC), the government realized Rs 2.517 billion.

The Secretary PC said that the new government had embarked upon an active privatization plan under which eight SOEs including Haveli Bahadur Shah and Baloki Power plants, Convention Center, and First Women Bank would be privatized in the first phase.

With respect to divestment of Convention Center situated in zone-3 of the federal capital, the Secretary informed that the land (58 kanals) of the center was under the ownership of Capital Development Authority (CDA), however the cabinet would first purchase the land from CDA through finance division at market rates and then it would proceed for privatization of the center.

The committee directed that the privatization process must be done through a fair and transparent way.

Briefing on issues of PTCL employees after divestment, the meeting was informed that at the time of divestment, there were 66000 employees in total while at present there were only 16000 employees working in PTCL, while dues of majority of the employees who availed golden handshakes or who retired had already been cleared.

Senator Rubina Khalid however pointed out that most of the pensioners of PTCL-around 40,000 were still facing difficulties in clearing their dues.

The Chairman of the committee said that in the next meeting, the management of PTCL and ministry of Information Technology should be present to explain their stance on this issue.

(APP)

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