ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Com­mission informed the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation on Friday that it was moving fast to privatise state-owned enterprises.

Privatisation Commission secretary Hassan Nasir Jam briefed the committee about actions being taken to privatise or restructure entities with respective timelines.

A meeting of the cabinet committee, chaired by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, directed the ministries and departments concerned to complete the formation of boards of First Women Bank and House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC).

The committee approved the summary, tabled by the Privatisation Commission’s sboard, recommending the highest bid of about Rs1.96 billion received after auction proceedings for privatisation of Services International Hotel, Lahore.

Tarin says govt committed to reforms agenda

Issues relating to National Power Parks Management Company also came up for discussion during the meeting, and the committee issued instructions to the departments concerned to solve the issues pertaining to privatisation of NPPMCL.

Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin directed acceleration of the entire process with due diligence to bring efficiency into the public sector.

He further stated that the government was firmly committed to the reform agenda focusing on improving functions of state-owned enterprises to make them profitable and sustainable.

According to the Privatisation Commission, a meeting to discuss privatisation of NPPMCL and SME Bank is expected next week.

The committee instructed the ministries and divisions to take quick steps to complete the privatisation programme of the government as per the timelines.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2021