ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: The government is set to appoint Zafar Ali Khan, an MP-1 officer and former secretary privatization, as managing director of the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) in a couple of days.

Official sources told Dawn that a summary to this effect has been sent to the president for formal approval following green signal from the chief executive secretariat.

Mr Khan is a chartered accountant by qualification. Currently he was working as adviser to the privatization in the Ministry of Industries and Production.

The post of PPIB managing director has been lying vacant for the last one-and-a-half year when Brig (Retd) Mushtaq A Khan completed his two-year contract. Senior joint secretary Ministry of Power Eng. Syed Ibrahim Shah was looking after the job.

The post was advertised twice last year and over a dozen candidates were interviewed by a three-member committee headed by Minister for Privatization Altaf Saleem. The interviews were however cancelled.

Under the advertisements, only electrical engineers and power sector experts were eligible for the post of PPIB MD. The appointment was necessitated because of a proposed new power policy to restore confidence of the investors.

Meanwhile, a three-member panel of candidates has been submitted to the chief executive for the post of managing director of National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak).

The panel included Asif Saleem, outgoing managing director whose contract expired recently, Sabir P Chohan, managing director of Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) and the incumbent vice-president of Nespak.

One of three, is likely to be selected to head the state-run engineering consultancy firm. Sources in the cabinet division said that notification about these postings would be issued in a couple of days.