August 04, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 19, 1428

KARACHI, Aug 3: The Sindh Privatisation Commission (SPC) will soon invite Expressions of Interest (EoIs) for the sale of billions of rupees assets of the defunct Sindh Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) and grain silos constructed but left incomplete by the NLC on Superhighway near Karachi.

The marketing activities of the Sindh Privatisation Commission (SPC) had slowed down during last year owing to resignation of its private sector chairman Tariq Amin in June 2006. The SPC board now has recommended name of the new chairman which awaits approval by the chief minister.

The SPC chairman resigned about a year ago on reasons of preoccupation, but notification about acceptance of his resignation by the chief minister took about one year paving the way for a new entrant.

However, a heavy agenda of privatisation awaits the new chairman which include sale of assets of the defunct SRTC; sale of wheat silos, prime farm land belonging to the Sindh Board of Revenue and a printing press in Hyderabad.

The assets of SRTC include 50 shops at a bus terminal in Jacobabad, a shopping plaza at SRTC terminal in Hyderabad, a residential house in Lateefabad, Hyderabad and a bus terminal at Sukkur.

Earlier, bids were invited for sale of SRTC assets and silos were far below the benchmark price fixed by the SPC and hence the sell-off was postponed.

However, the PC board recently decided that the SRTC assets should first be offered to the city district governments in respective towns on market rates so that their land-use plan is not disturbed. If the district governments refuse the offer, the assets would be offered to the private sector.

The SPC owes Rs662 million to the ministry of finance for payment made to the employees of the SRTC which closed operations in December 1993 on account of golden handshake scheme. The amount will be paid to the ministry after the assets are sold.

All decisions made by the SPC are subject to approval by the Sindh Cabinet Committee on Privatisation.

Giving details of the efforts for privatisation of the government assets, sources at the commission told Dawn that the SPC also initiated the process of privatisation of Lakhra Power Generation Company and Lakhra Coal Development Company.

The sell-off process could not progress as central government decided that assets of Lakhra Power Generation Company should be handed to Wapda since it has majority shareholding in two coal mining power companies.

Privatisation of Silos: The construction of 16 grain silos was undertaken by NLC at a cost of Rs50 million on a land provided by the Sindh government. On completion of 47 per cent work at a cost of over Rs47.2 million, the construction was abandoned by the NLC. The concrete structure of 11 silos was completed while foundation of five silos dug up. The machinery of the project is lying on the site.

The ECC of the cabinet in Islamabad decided to hand over silos along with machinery of the project packed in containers to the Sindh government. The valuation of the property on the prevalent market price is being carried out following which the property would be placed for auction.

The commission will invite expressions of interests from prospective investors for submitting an integrated development plan for using the property as whole i.e. land, structure, machinery and equipment.

The other assets due for sell-off by the commission include 75 acres of the Board of Revenue land in Deh Shah Mureed. The commission decided to divide the land into small plots of 15 acres each for sell-off.

Meanwhile, Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, a prominent businessman and member of the board of Sindh Privatisation Commission, told Dawn that the commission had been non-functional for quite some time due to resignation of the chairman and preoccupation of the Sindh finance minister who chairs the meetings of the commission.

He said the SPC had assets worth billions of rupees, including properties of the defunct SRTC, and incomplete grain silos with unpacked machinery.

He suggested that the silos should be handed to the ministry of agriculture for storage of grain if the assets do not get a good sale offer.