LAHORE, Jan 28: A team of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) — a subsidiary of the World Bank and consultant for privatization of the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) — will meet the Wapda authorities on Tuesday to “put the sale of the company on track.”

Under the restructuring plan for the power sector, Wapda decided to begin the privatization process by selling the FESCO, a distribution company, and the Lakhra Generation Company —- a generation company. But the FESCO privatization hit some procedural snags when title transfer of assets ran into legal problems. It was found out that the most of Wapda’s assets, historically used by it, were not even transferred in its name. Further transfer of title to the FESCO of these assets was thus impossible.

The Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), responsible for the privatization of these companies, has though transferred manpower to the FESCO under the new term of contract. The World Bank, being the major financier of the privatization process, is keeping a vigilant eye on the progress of the plan.

In Tuesday’s meeting, the IFC and the Wapda authorities will try to hammer out ways and means to expedite the process and remove procedural hiccups, says an official of the water and power ministry. The FESCO headed by a career engineer is running into profit with line losses of 13.23 per cent — second only to the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (ISECO) which is suffering losses of around 11.6 per cent. This makes the FESCO prime candidate for privatization of all distribution companies, he said.