ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to put the spacious Jinnah Convention Centre up for sale as part of its ambitious privatisation policy.

Perched at one end of Constitution Avenue, the ideally located venue, also known as the National Convention Centre, is one of eight privatisation transactions the government intends to complete during the current financial year 2014-15, in hopes of generating revenue to the tune of at least Rs260 billion, official documents available with Dawn indicate.

Also read: Rethink privatisation

If the Jinnah Convention Centre – which is used for exhibitions and summits by both the public and private sectors – is successfully divested, it is expected to fetch the government anywhere between Rs10 billion to Rs15 billion. According to the document available with Dawn, the convention centre is the only government property which will have 100 per cent of its shares transferred to potential buyers upon acquisition.

A senior official of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which manages the centre, said that soon after its inauguration in 1997, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government at the time had demonstrated an intent to sell this prime piece of real estate. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif used the centre in 1997 – during his second stint as prime minister – to host that year’s Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit.

Centre, OGDCL among eight entities govt intended to privatise in 2014-15

“We at the CDA don’t know how far the government has gone as far as the sale of the Jinnah Convention Centre is concerned. But one thing is for sure: sooner or later, the centre will be offered up for sale,” the official said.

Considering the strong reaction that the government saw – from opposition parties as well as the judiciary – over its plans to privatise the Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDCL), it is possible that the government may delay the proposed sale, at least for now, the official said. Over the last couple of weeks, opposition parties have been protesting against the government’s decision to sell OGDCL shares and many believe that the eventual decision to postpone its privatisation was political pressure, both inside and outside parliament.

During Saturday’s meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP), Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said via video link from Dubai that there was no need to go ahead with the deal in an unfavorable atmosphere. The government had estimated that it would earn at least Rs79 billion from the divestment of OGDCL.

According to documents available with Dawn, the government had also planned to offload other holdings in the year 2014-15: Allied Bank Limited shares worth Rs14 billion, Habib Bank Limited shares worth Rs118.8 billion, the National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC) worth approximately Rs1.9 billion, the Northern Power Generation Company (NPGC) worth at least Rs15 billion, the Faisalabad Electric Supply Corporation (Fesco) worth nearly Rs20 billion, and the Heavy Electrical Complex worth nearly Rs1.4 billion.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2014