ISLAMABAD, Oct 5: Privatization Commission here on Saturday cancelled the bidding process for the sale of the assets of Associated Cement (Rohri) Limited after receiving the offers against the bidding instructions.

Secretary Privatization Commission Ahmad Waqar told the participants of the bidding that the government was not going to sell its assets in distress or haste or at a throwaway price.

He made his comments after the two bidders came up with their conditional offers and that too below the floor price. The floor price was fixed at Rs300 million with a minimum increment of Rs20 million. National Transport offered Rs200 million with a condition to pay 40 per cent up front, while the other bidder Afzal Motors offered Rs10 million for the machinery of the plant and expressed their unwillingness to offer for the land.

Associated Cement is located at Rohri, 7-km from Sukkur. The factory is strategically located to produce and supply different varieties of cement to surrounding areas of Sindh and Balochistan. Based on wet process, it has two kilns having aggregate production capacity of 270,000 metric tons per annum.

The factory is closed since 1999 and the payment of Golden Handshake to its employees has already been finalized without any burden on the buyer. The company owns about 195.3 acres of purchased land, which includes 13 acres area occupied by un-authorized persons. It has 24.45 acres of agriculture land located in the vicinity.

The plant is located on an area of about 36 acres. Of the land under Residential colony, 127 acres are developed. The prospective bidders had carried out due diligence/inspection of assets offered for sale.