ISLAMABAD, Sept 9: The Privatisation Commission Board on Saturday decided to accelerate the privatisation process by finalising a number of transactions, including Pakistan State Oil, during 2006 positively.

"We are finalising dates to further push up the privatisation process and both PSO and OGDCL's Global Depository Receipt (GDR) along with some other state sector entities will certainly be disinvested during this calendar year," said Privatisation and Investment Minister Mr Zahid Hamid.

He told Dawn after the meeting that the government needed to dispel the impression that the privatisation process had slowed down, especially after the cancellation of Pakistan Steel Mills deal by the Supreme Court.

He said he was deliberately avoiding giving exact dates for clearing some bigger transactions at this stage, although their timings had been firmed up by the Privatisation Commission.

Responding to a question, Mr Hamid said a clarification had been sought from the apex court in the review petition about the privatisation process. "We do not want that this process should be hindered due to any reason and that is why the government has filed a review petition about the steel mills."He said the mills' transaction had been done away with after the judgment of the Supreme Court and, "we need the assistance of the apex court so as to ensure unhindered privatisation process."

When asked about the meeting, he said the Privatisation Commission Board reviewed the progress and status of the disinvestment programme till June 2007.

The board approved recommendations of the committee for pre-qualification of the bidders for the privatisation of National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC). It discussed matters related to the secondary public offering of the shares of United Bank Limited and offer of shares to the employees of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited.

The PCB discussed the recommendations of the committee for the proper sequencing of strategic sale of public sector entities to be offered and the initial public offering (IPO) as well as secondary public offering for the divestment of government shares through the capital market.

The board also considered the case of Saindak Metals Limited/Saindak Development Corporation (SDC) and recommended its delisting from the privatisation programme in view of the fact that the project had been leased out for 10 years to a Chinese company.

Mr Zahid told the meeting that the government was fully committed to vigorously pursuing its privatisation policy and transferring the management of public sector entities to the efficient private sector that had the capacity to bring in new investment and latest technology for expansion of the projects and increase the production and revenues of the government.

In the case of public offerings, this will not only benefit small investors but also increase market capitalisation.