Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced the privatization of all other state institutions except strategic institutions.
Regarding the affairs of the Ministry of Privatization and the Privatization Commission, an important review meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, in which the roadmap of the privatization program 2024-2029 was presented by the Ministry of Privatization and the Privatization Commission.
In the meeting, the Prime Minister announced the privatization of all government-owned enterprises except strategic state-owned enterprises and said that all other state-owned enterprises, whether they are profitable or loss-making, will be privatized.
The Prime Minister directed all the federal ministries to take necessary action in this regard and to cooperate with the Privatization Commission and said that transparency should be given top priority in the process of privatization.
Shahbaz Sharif said that the government’s job is not to do business but to ensure a business and investment friendly environment and to provide facilities and ease in this regard. Privatization of government-owned enterprises will save taxpayers’ money and the same money will help improve the quality of service delivery.
The prime minister directed to telecast live telecast of other important stages of the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited, including budding, and said that the stages of the process of privatization of other institutions will also be telecasted live.
On this occasion, the participants of the meeting were given a detailed briefing on the progress regarding the privatization of government-owned enterprises, in which it was said that the pre-qualification process regarding the privatization of PIA will be completed by the end of May. Necessary consultations regarding the privatization of the Roosevelt Hotel are in progress while the Government-to-Government transaction of First Women Bank Limited with the United Arab Emirates is underway.
The briefing informed that the electricity distribution companies have been included in the privatization program 2024-2029. Loss-making government-owned enterprises will be privatized on priority basis. A pre-qualified panel of experts is being appointed in the Privatization Commission to make the privatization process faster and more effective.
Minister for Defense and Aviation Khawaja Asif, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, Federal Minister for Energy (Poor Division) Owais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Federal Minister for Privatization Abdul Aleem Khan, Minister for Petroleum Mossadegh Malik, Federal Minister Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Prime Minister’s Coordinator Rana Ehsan Afzal and relevant senior government officials attended.
