ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission (PC) has completed around 70 per cent work for the privatisation of state-owned entities (SOEs), including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and Lahore and Faisalabad electric supply companies — Lesco and Fesco.

A senior PC official said on Friday that these entities would be privatised within next six to eight months along with the Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco), State Life Insurance Corporation and Mari Gas.

He said: “Before inviting the letter of intent, transaction structure of the privatisation process will be submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation for approval”.

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Road shows for selling off the SOEs will be organised in Turkey, China and Russia to attract foreign direct investment.

The letter of intent (LoI) for Fesco has already been sought from the private sector.

The PC has been working on the privatisation of these entities for 18 months and the process has been accelerated on the directive of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

The official said that the public sector entities were being privatised to improve the quality of service.

The most important task would be to ensure improvement in the services of these entities after privatisation.

In reply to a question, he said that 150 entities had been privatised since the start of process in 1991. He admitted that the process had been slow in the past, but said that the present government was taking keen interest to expedite it.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2015