June 14, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1427

ISLAMABAD, June 13: The Privatisation Commission Board (PCB) here on Tuesday approved a proposal to offer shares of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) to its employees.

Details of the offer would be released at next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP). Normally, the government offers 10pc shares to the employees of an entity during its privatisation process.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the PC Board presided over by Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment Zahid Hamid.

The minister said there was a need to develop a comprehensive communication strategy for creating awareness among the people regarding the privatisation of state-owned vital assets and its benefits.

Mr Hamid’s statement has come at a time when there is a lot of debate going on against the sell-off of strategic national assets including Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) and Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) with the Supreme Court taking a suo motu against the privatisation of PSMC.

The minister said the government should institute a programme for public and stakeholders awareness, and establish two-way channels of communication to build consensus and public ownership in the privatisation process.

"This would help establish a more positive image of the privatisation process through increasing the flow of factual information, highlighting the achievements and benefits of privatisation to the common man, especially under the government’s policy of Privatisation for the People", he added.

The PC Board decided that the privatisation of Pak American Fertilisers Limited would be dealt in accordance with the transaction documents.

The meeting decided to initiate the process of the privatisation of Printing Corporation (Pvt) Limited and to de-list Investment Corporation of Pakistan (ICP) from privatisation list and transfer it to State Bank.

The meeting reviewed the progress and status of the privatisation process of various ongoing and upcoming transactions and reviewed the implementation status of the decisions taken in the previous meeting.