ISLAMABAD, March 16: The Privatization Commission has sent the share purchase agreement to all the five pre-qualified bidders for the privatization Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation scheduled for March 31, 2006.

Sources told Dawn on Thursday that the Privatization Commission Board would meet on March 30 to determine reference prices of the Steel Mills and Pakistan State Oil. After having determined these reference prices, they would be forwarded to the Cabinet Committee on Privatization for an approval.

The government is expecting $700 million to $1 billion revenue by privatizing the mighty steel mills which mainly includes a plant and 4,445 acres of land attached to it. The rest of about 19,000 acres of land was being returned to the Sindh government.

The sources said the officials of the President’s Secretariat had asked the Privatization Commission authorities to consider March 31 a deadline for disinvesting the mills and that there should not be any further delay in the transaction. The mills’ transaction was delayed three times and last time it was scheduled for March 10. However, no plausible excuse was given by the Privatization Commission for the delay in the transaction.

The bidders were told to deposit $30 million each by March 27 so that necessary official and legal requirements could be completed by March 30 and bidding could take place the very next day (March 31). The short-listed bidders are: Tuwairqi Group of Companies, Saudi Arabia with Arif Habib Group of Companies Pakistan; Government of Ras Al Khaimah (UAE); International Industries Limited (Pakistan) and Industrial Union of Donbass (Ukraine); Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Workers Open JSC; and Noor Financial Investment Company of Kuwait.

Dr Hafeez Shaikh, who is still Chairman of the Privatization Commission, had been directed to look after the transaction and inform the President’s Secretariat in a day or so about any issue that could cause problem to the transaction.

Pakistan Steel Chairman Abdul Qayyum when contacted said that he was ready for the privatization of the mills on March 31. All the workers and unions, he said, had been taken into confidence to privatize the mills without further delay.

He said Pakistan Steel was geared towards privatization after having attained over 90 per cent production capacity and Rs100 million average daily sales. “We have got so many orders after having imported 400,000 tons of coke from China on reduced prices,” the chairman said.

“I have also successfully negotiated a five-year agreement to import inexpensive coal from Canada and Austria amounting to $130 million in the next five-year period and this is going to be good for a bidder,” Mr Qayyum added.