The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Saturday demanded of the government to run all public sector enterprises (PSEs) under public-private partnership as majority of public entities have failed to deliver desired results.
In a statement issued here, LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad, Senior Vice President Almas Hyder and Vice President Nasir Saeed said that the government would have to come up with extraordinary plan to control heavy loss Rs 600 billion to the national exchequer.
“The business community is the ultimate loser as the loss making public sector enterprises (PSEs) are being run through the duties and taxes imposed on the trade and industrial sectors.”
They said though “salvage plan” is well on the way as far as Pakistan Railways and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) are concerned but situation in other PSEs was quite disappointing.
The LCCI office-bearers said that keeping in view the massive loss being caused by the public sector enterprises (PSEs) the government should take measures on war footing to make these organisations profitable or go for the option of privatisation.
They said in the advanced economies like the United States, United Kingdom and Japan etc, the role of PSEs was minimal and the private sector was the most important instrument of socio-economic prosperity, and there was continued growth of privately-run corporations. They said the significance of PSEs could not be ignored in view of the fact that they remain the most employment-intensive and capital-intensive organisations.
The LCCI office-bearers suggested formation of a committee of experts from public and private sectors to revisit strategy and adopt methods which provide a new impetus to the PSEs. They said the committee should go deep into the broader political philosophy and vision under which the PSEs would be required to play their role in the new competitive environment.
They said that PSEs of Pakistan should continue to remain the backbone of the economy and therefore their revival was critical to their economic survival. They said that PSEs were not only industries for short-term economic and commercial gains but were our national assets.
