ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: The final pre-bid conference for the privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) is expected to be held in the first week of January 2006, says a statement here on Wednesday.

The statement issued by the office of the industries and production minister said the pre-bid conference would be followed by bidding and “it was, therefore, expected that the highest bidder would be determined by the end of January, but the date might be extended by a few days due to new year and Eid holidays.”

It said a news item published on Page 3 of Dawn on Tuesday gave a wrong impression that the privatization process of the Pakistan Steel would start in March 2006.

“Actually, the process of the PSM privatization started in April 2005,” it said, adding that “after the appointment of financial adviser for privatization of the PSM expression of interest was invited from local and international investors in September 2005.”

The statement said the process of pre-qualification of the interested parties was completed in the last week of November 2005 with the pre-qualification of nine parties.

Currently, it said, “buyer due diligence” was being carried out by the pre- qualified parties.