ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: In a bid to revive the Sindh Engineering Limited (SEL), the government has invited private sector to transform the entity into a modern plant, it was officially learnt here on Saturday.

SEL, an automobile assembly-cum-progressive manufacturing unit, was established as Wazir Ali Engineering Ltd in 1963 in Karachi. It was nationalised in 1973 during the era of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and was renamed as Sindh Engineering Ltd. The unit is owned by the government through Pakistan Automobile Corporation (PAC) and is administrated under ministry of production.

The revival of SEL vehicle assembly plant will be through a Lease, Rehabilitate Operate Transfer (LROT) arrangement. A consortium of private companies is being encouraged to rehabilitate the plant for production of auto accessories, bus bodies, tractors, cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV).

According to IPDF, recent developments have favoured the production of light commercial vehicles in Pakistan.

Factors include opening of the trade corridor to Central Asia, increase in the middle age group as a percentage of total population, export potential carried by light commercial vehicles, effectiveness of LCV as a fast, cost efficient cargo vehicle, favourable autofinancing terms, and the replacement of animal carts by LCV in rural and urban areas.

According to conditions set for the concession, SEL will provide the land along with plant, machinery and equipment for the term of the concession period. The land, plant and machinery will be available for the duration of the concession period of twenty years.

The Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) of the ministry of finance will hold a pre-bid conference on February 7 as part of the bidding process to lease out SEL to a private party for a period of 20 years. The concession will be given in the form of the right to utilise the land, civil infrastructure and machinery already available with SEL.

The project envisages rehabilitation of plant equipment and machinery and its transformation into a modern plant. It requires an injection of funds to utilise the available land, infrastructure and machinery and existing marketing and distribution channels. The SEL plant can be transformed to auto parts producer for other plants manufacturing the busses, trucks and prime movers.

The expected benefits of the SEL revival project include rehabilitation of the vehicle assembly plant that is currently not operational, employment for SEL labour force and a gain of technical expertise brought by the private party at the end of the concession period.