Etisalat has turned down Government of Pakistan’s offer for settling payment dispute by valuing outstanding proprieties and deducting the amount from USD 800 million that the UAE based group has held against the buyout of 26 percent shares of PTCL in 2005, reported Business Recorder.
During his recent meeting with Chairman Etisalat, Prime Minister of Pakistan had shown serious concerns over outstanding payment that Etisalat is refusing to settle till now.
Etisalat has a firm stand of not clearing the pending payment unless it gets control of 3248 properties as agreed in SPA (Sale Purchase Agreement), 3117 out of which have been transferred to Etisalat till date, leaving 131 outstanding properties – 32 public and 99 private.
20 out of 99 remaining property holders (mainly in Sindh) have moved to court to get hold of their premises, which is why Government of Pakistan is facing hurdles in transfer of remaining prosperities.
Etisalat said that value of remaining properties (which are less than 1 percent of total agreed properties) is too high and they should be handed over instead of devaluation from USD 800 million.
Etisalat is holding USD 800 million for over 4 years now, while Government of Pakistan has tried several times to settle the dispute by one way or the other. However, no proper resolution has been met so far.
Privatization commission of Pakistan gave several deadlines to Etisalat and the media for the resolution of payment dispute, but nothing has matured and Pakistan is still waiting for the price of 26 percent shares of PTCL that it sold seven years ago.
Pakistan has once said that it could take back the control of PTCL if pending payment isn’t cleared, however, that turned out to be a just a statement.
In a related news, Government of Pakistan had said that it will not allow any defaulting firm to participate in upcoming 3G auction, which – if implemented – can impact Etisalat as the group has shown its intents for participation in 3G auction.
Kha kha aur haram kha PM
Why did Shaukat Aziz give away so much property (on paper) that they didn’t even have the right to give away? Why should Etisalaat accept anything less than the agreement they made?
Etisalat and Pakistan Government as a result of this agreement put a moratorium on new LDI, LL and new telecom licenses. Why should we citizens of Pakistan be made to suffer because of agreement between these 2 parties?
Another question for Shaukat Aziz and the Musharraf-lovers.
Lets assume that you guys are right and that EVERYTHING that Musharraf did was wrong. Now, the government’s been there for the last 5 years. The very governmenr that YOU voted and asked for. Don’t you think that half a decade is a LONG period of time to fix these petty issues?
GYEY BHUTTO! /s
Again, what do you expect them to do? They didn’t make the agreement, the previous government did. What do you expect the current government to do? Break the contract?
this government is trying to eat as much money as they can before they leave the office next year!
If PTCL was not privatized,today it would have been in the same condition as Railway and PIA.
We, the people of Pakistan should be thankful to Etisalat.