ISLAMABAD: The government has no plans to sell Roosevelt Hotel in New York and is instead seeking a joint venture for a mixed-use development.

This was revealed by the Privatisation Commission in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation on Thursday. The commission said the terms of reference for the process have been sent to the aviation division and a decision was awaited.

The decision was pending due to a delay in the appointment of a financial adviser to key stakeholders.

The meeting was further told that according to the Privatisation Commission’s regulations and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules, the commission will hire a financial adviser to recommend the best-suited transaction structure in consultation with relevant stakeholders.

The meeting of the Senate committee, chaired by Senator Shamim Afridi, also discussed the privatisation of SME Bank, Services International Hotel in Lahore and Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco).

Govt seeking joint venture for mixed-use development

On the privatisation of SME Bank, the meeting was informed that the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) has considered the privatisation ministry’s summary and approved the recommendations in November 2022 to delist SME Bank from the privatisation programme.

The finance ministry and State Bank will take the matter further and a report will be presented to the CCoP in its next meeting.

The Senate committee recommended attaching SME Bank with a reputed bank preferably the National Bank of Pakistan.

Regarding the privatisation of Services International Hotel, the meeting was informed that the prime minister had formed a sub-committee under the chairmanship of the privatisation minister with representatives from the finance and law and justice divisions and Privatisation Commission secretary.

The report prepared by the sub-committee has been submitted to the CCoP.

The CCoP has directed the sub-committee to re-submit the report after inputs from the law and justice division regarding the conformity of rules and regulations of the process, the meeting was told.

The meeting was also told that nine distribution committees (Discos), including Sepco, were part of the privatisation process.

The CCoP had at a meeting in 2022 directed the power division to write to all provinces for negotiations to buy the Discos concerned, the meeting was briefed.

Sindh has already begun the process of talks with the power division for acquiring Hyderabad Electric Supply Company and Sepco.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2023