Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Mohammed Ishaq Dar chairing the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Privatisation in Islamabad on 10th May, 2024.
The Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) Friday approved 24 entities for the Privatization Programme.
The CCOP meeting was held with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar in the chair. The committee, while approving 24 entities for the Privatization Programme, in principle, for the time being, directed the Ministry of Privatization to deliberate the phasing of each entity in consultation with the respective Ministries.
According to sources, the 24 entities include PIACL, RHC, PRCL, SLIC, PLICL, FWBL, HBFC, ZTBL, USC, PECO, SEL, GENCO-I, GENCO-II, GENCO-III, GENCO-IV, LESCO, FESCO, IESCO, MEPCO, GEPCO, HESCO, PESCO, SEPCO, HAZECO
The CCOP was also presented with a phased Privatization Programme (2024-29) by the Ministry of Privatization , based on the recommendations of the PC Board, in terms of Section 5(b) of the Privatization Commission Ordinance 2000.
The committee recommended that priority shall be accorded to the privatization of loss-making entities while the Federal Footprint shall be limited only to the Strategic and Essential SOEs under the Federal Government’s domain. CCOP emphasized that even the SOE making profits shall be considered for privatization. After deliberating on the privatization policy guidelines, CCOP considered 84 SOEs in detail in light of the SOE Act and Policy and passed the following directions:
40 SOEs, categorized as Strategic or Essential, shall be placed by respective Ministries before the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (CCoSOE) for their categorization as Strategic or Essential;
Those SOEs that will not be categorized as Strategic or Essential shall be included in the Privatization Programme.
CCOP directed the Ministry of Privatization to deliberate the rationale provided by respective Ministries for not including 18 SOEs in consultation with them and firm up proposals regarding each shall be submitted to CCOP in its next meeting.
With the above directions, the CCOP directed all Ministries/ Divisions to take up their cases of Strategic and Essential SOEs with CCOSOE at the earliest so that a comprehensive phased privatization programme is finalized in the next meeting of CCOP.
The committee also considered the proposal for the transfer of 322,460,900 shares of OGDCL from the Privatization Commission’s CDC’s account to the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division). The matter was deferred with the direction to the Law and Justice Division to holistically examine the provisions of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act 2023 in the instant case and submit its recommendations before the CCOP in its next meeting.
The meeting was also attended by other members of the Committee including the Finance Minister, Minister for Commerce, Minister for Privatization, Minister for Industries and Production, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Chairman SECP besides Federal Secretaries of various Ministries and Division.
