LAHORE: The public sector companies have become a constant pain in the neck of the Punjab government as many of them, established by the PML-N government as a parallel governance system, are still low performers and they have become examples of massive financial and administrative mismanagement.

The Shehbaz-government had created 71 public sector companies but some of the companies were disbanded later for their inability to perform.

Around 40 companies are still operational and charging heavy bills from the public exchequer with actually no work. Adviser to the Chief Minister on Economic Affairs and Planning Salman Shah had probed the affairs of these companies and identified the reasons for low or, in some cases, no performance of certain companies.

Sources in the Punjab government claim there are eight to 10 public companies that still needed to be disbanded. The Usman Buzdar government is set to fill scores of highly-paid posts to run the companies in line with the Shehbaz Sharif’s governance model, instead of activating the regular administrative departments.

Many companies set up by PML-N govt are pain in the neck of PTI govt

In order to find a way forward to resolve the bottlenecks in the appointment of qualified professionals with relevant experience and expertise, the CM has asked Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht, adviser Salman Shah and Chief Secretary Jawwad Rafique Malik to address the long standing issue of vacancies in the board of directors (BoD) and top management in the companies.

Tahir Khurshid, the principal secretary to the CM, says Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has taken cognizance of the affairs of the public companies and added that Mr Bakht, Mr Shah and Mr Malik will start reviewing the performance of all operational companies from Monday (today) and propose action with a timeline.

Finance Secretary Iftikhar Ali Sahoo says about 38 companies would continue to work and the rest would be closed.

The government has directed the secretaries of Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD), transport, industries, energy, livestock, higher education, planning and development (P&D) and population welfare departments to give briefings on progress made by their respective departments in completing the process of filling the vacancies in the BoD and top management of the public sector companies.

Answering a question, a senior officer, who wished to stay anonymous, says the government would have to complete the appointment of the BoD– to disband even a low performer company. The officer adds that the appointment of CEOs of various companies can also turn around their performance and they may serve as active performers. Ëach company’s case will be reviewed separately, he added.

The LG&CD department has the case of appointment of chief executive officers (CEOs) in the LWMC, FPC and SWMC; appointment of chief financial officers (CFOs) in the LWMC, FWMC, MWMC, SWMC, GWMC, Lahore division cattle market as well as data and progress on completion of various BoDs with vacancies.

The transport department secretary is expected to explain data and progress on completion of vacancies on the board of the Lahore Transport Company (LTC) as well as status of hiring on top management positions being run on an ad hoc/additional charge basis for numerous years at the LTC.

The industries department secretary is required to brief the meeting on appointment of CEOs in FIEDMC, PIEDMC and Model Bazaars; appointment of CFOs in FIEDMC and PBIT; data and progress on completion of BoD in FIEDMC as some 11 posts are lying vacant.

The energy department secretary will inform the meeting about appointment of regular CEOs in PEHC, PPDC, QATPL, QASPL and PTPL; appointment of CFO in PTPL; as well as data and progress on completion of various BoDs with vacancies.

The livestock department will discuss appointment of the CEOs in PAMCO & PLDDB as well as progress on BoD of PAMCO and PLDDB.

The higher education department secretary is supposed to explain the status of the BoD and top management for LKPC and PEEF besides data and progress on completion of various BoDs.

The Planning and Development board will explain data and progress on completion of BoD in the Urban Unit and ECSP.

The population welfare department will discuss appointment of regular CEO for the PPIF as well as progress on filling vacancies in the BoD.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2021