UNFORTUNATELY, for better or for worse, some of our state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are again in the news. First, PIA. This once iconic airline suffered another air crash on May 22. It is known to all and sundry that PIA was one of the prestigious airlines in the world back in the 1960s and early 1970s, proudly conveying its esteemed passengers around the globe under the apt marketing title ‘Great people to fly with’.

And now, PIA stands reduced to an ill-functioning, bulging monster (akin to Pakistan Railways) manned by tens of thousands of employees but with just three dozen or so aircraft in hand.

An urgent, swift and indiscriminate clean-up of its stables is now in order to restore PIA’s long lost pride and vanity.

Second, Pakistan Steel Mills. According to media reports, 9,350 PSM employees have been retrenched on one month’s notice by the government, which is their ultimate employer. This indicates the government’s willingness to finally tackle this loss-making behemoth.

In the case of PIA, some sort of rescue or resuscitation plan (two to four years) should be considered with a friendly neighborhood but ‘extremely competent’ airline such as Qatar Airways or Emirates if, in fact, outright privatisation is not acceptable to the government.

In the PSM case, some sort of ambitious, out-of-the-box, public-private joint-venture initiative should be conceived OF if outright privatisation is again not acceptable to the government.

Nonetheless, all employees should be treated with fairness, honour and equity as regards the payment of their dues. There is no need to resort to coercive measures.

Since the privatisation venture began in Pakistan back in 1990, so many industrial and service units comprising cement, fertiliser, chemical, banking and oil refineries have changed hands from the public to the private domain, resulting in varying degrees of impact.

Meanwhile, once these two PSEs are turned around, I am sure the flow of economic ‘sunk costs’ from the exchequer will be reversed, thereby, creating positive multiplier effects on the economy.

A. R. Siddiqi
Lahore

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2020