April 22, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1429

HYDERABAD, April 21: The government is not keen on pursuing the policy of witch-hunt regarding privatisation deals made by the outgoing government but will conduct audit of it, said Federal Minister for Privatisation, Ports and Shipping Naveed Qamar, on Sunday.

Talking to journalists at the residence of Zulfikar Halepota he said Gwadar port remains under-utilised for which local population and its representatives will be taken on board.

The question of ownership regarding Gwadar deep seaport and protection of interests of local population will be ensured he said adding the land and jobs irritants will be looked into by bringing into fold the people of Balcohistan and their leadership. He said the port was underutilised because of some linkage problem for which different feasibilities were being applied.

The PPP had a firm stance over developing a port at Keti Bunder for which feasibilities were being prepared, he said and added: “Port Qasim is also being expanded with an accelerated pace of work.”

The government, he said will continue with the PPP’s policy of privatisation with few modifications to make process transparent and effective.

The government will take lesson from the past mistakes while going for privatisation deals along with taking care of the labour of such units. It will give preference to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), he said.

He said the government will pay attention to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) and the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) along with it expansion.

Admitting the cartelisation in sugar, rice and wheat, he reaffirmed the government’s commitment to resolve the issue on top priority. He also hinted at strengthening the Competition Authority.

Wapda’s privatisation was in pipeline but the gap between power demand and supply had forced the government to bring into operation hydel, wind, coal and thermal based power plants, he said.

Regarding previous such deals, he said the Privatisation Commission’s chairman will not be put behind bars but all audits will be carried out by the Public Accounts Committee.He said it should be known to the world that Pakistan was an investment-friendly country and the business community be made aware of the WTO-related issues.

Earlier, the minister visited Abadgar Sugar Mills in Tando Mohammad Khan where seven people were killed and 14 others injured in an explosion in a molasses tank.