ISLAMABAD: The Board of the Privatisation Commission (PC) on Thursday granted approval for six pre-qualified investors for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).

The six parties have submitted their SOQs. A pre-qualification committee was formulated to scrutinise the pre-qualified parties. A press release issued after the board meeting said that the pre-qualified parties were leading international investors of sound rating. “It is welcoming that they expressed interest for the revival of PSM,” the press release said.

The board decided that the Virtual Data Room (VDR) will be opened for pre-qualified bidders for their due diligence for a period of thirty days.

The matter relating to the Jinnah Convention Center (JCC) was discussed in the meeting in the presence of representatives of Capital Development Authority (CDA) led by its chairman. It was decided that the CDA will issue a consent letter to the PC regarding the conversion of JCC land from amenities to commercial.

The Ministry of Privatisation clarified that the infrastructure charges incurred will be borne by the successful investor. It was also agreed upon that the CDA and financial advisers from the privatisation ministry will evaluate the property and make a comprehensive evaluation report regarding infrastructure cost in possible scenarios of land use in future for the investors within two weeks.

It was briefed to the board members that after receiving the letter from the CDA for conversion of plot into commercial, the VDR for the pre-qualified investors will be opened.

The board was briefed about the update on the transaction status of Heavy Electric Complex (HEC). The PC Board, while considering the way forward on the privatisation of HEC, after threadbare discussion and deliberation agreed and allowed to extend the bidding date up to one month as requested by one of the potential bidders.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2022