June 21, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 24, 1427

ISLAMABAD, June 20: A special meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) has been convened here on June 28 to accelerate the process of privatisation with special reference to disinvesting PPL and PSO by August this year.

Informed sources told Dawn on Tuesday that the meeting, to be presided over by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, would take into account various factors that were contributing to slow pace of privatisation particularly for the last few months.

The meeting was also expected to approve the privatisation of the Pak American Fertiliser Company. "Both the president and the prime minister want the Privatisation Commission (PC) to complete a number of transactions especially Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Pakistan State Oil (PSO) preferably by August this year," a source said.

The delay in finalising both these transactions by June 30 this year, as were earlier planned and approved by the prime minister, did not go well with both the leaders, he added.

He said that the CCoP would discuss ways and means how to speed up the third phase of privatisation which included mega deals like ports & shipping, airports, roads etc.

The meeting was also expected to approve a strategy to privatise National Investment Trust (NIT), Faisalabad Electrify Supply Company (FESCO), GENCO-1 Jasmshoro and other industrial units. Federal Minister for Privatisation and Investment Zahid Hamid would brief the CCoP about the latest situation with regard to the privatisation of remaining state-run entities.

Sources said that the government was desperately trying to convince the foreign investors to take part in the privatisation process by offering them all possible incentives. “But despite that there are problems in attracting sizable foreign investors in the upcoming privatisation deals,” another source said.