CT Newsroom
Ministry of Privatization has announced the five-year (2024-2029) privatization plan that will be executed in three phases. Initially, at least 10 out of 24 enterprises will be privatized within one year.
As per details, the Ministry of Privatization after the approval of the federal cabinet had prepared a list of 24 institutions for the privatization. The privatization would be done in three phases as per the five-year plan (2024-2029). 24 state-owned enterprises in total will be privatized out of which 10 enterprises will be privatized within one year.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, the decision of privatization would come after a review meeting of the privatization process of loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and then a roadmap for the privatization process would be issued. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who said in the meeting, “all the state-owned enterprises will be privatised whether they are in profit or in loss.”
In the initial phase, at least 10 enterprises will be privatized within one year including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Roosevelt Hotel in New York, Agricultural Development Bank, First Women Bank, House Building Finance Corporation, Pakistan Engineering Company, Sindh Engineering Limited, and power distribution companies in Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Gujranwala.
In the second phase, at least 13 enterprises will be privatized including Utility Stores Corporation, power distribution companies such as Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO), Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO), Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO), Jamshoro Power Company, Central Power Generation Company, Northern Power Generation, Lakhra Power Generation Company, Peshawar and Hazara Electric Supply Companies, State Life Insurance Company, and Pakistan Reinsurance Company. In the last phase, only one institution will be privatized.
It is worth mentioning here that the announcement of the privatization has come after International Monetary Fund’s mission had opened talks for a new long-term Extended Fund Facility in Islamabad.