Privatization Commission Chairman Muhammad Zubair said Tuesday that the government is making sincere efforts for privatising loss making Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) as it is spending around Rs 600 billion annually to keep them running, but their privatisation is a big challenge due to complicated privatisation process, opposition of political parties and many other factors.
He expressed these views while addressing the business community at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Tuesday. He said that political parties, media and other stakeholders should support the privatisation of loss making PSEs as it is in the national interest to privatise them instead of reforming them which is a long-term process.
He said a strong Privatisation Commission with independent decision making powers is needed to implement the government’s privatisation programme. He said currently 69 PSEs are on the privatisation list.
He said PSEs were established to provide good quality services to the public, but they have failed to deliver and have become a drain on the national exchequer, so it is necessary to privatise them. He said the privatisation process is quite lengthy as a minimum of two years is required to privatise a PSE. He said the government has to take some unpopular and tough decisions to put the country on the path of better economic growth. He stressed that the private sector should come up with some proposals on privatisation and assured that he would try to implement their proposals as it is in the best national interest.
In his welcome address ICCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh said that loss making public sector organisations including Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan International Airlines and Railways etc are a big burden on the national exchequer as the government is paying billions of rupees every year to bail them out.
He said instead of providing billions of rupees to loss making PSEs, the government should spend this amount on development projects and public welfare works as there is no justification to spend taxpayers’ money on keeping loss making entities afloat. He said such organisations may be privatised so that they could be transformed into profit earning entities and could play a positive role in the economic development of the country.
He stressed that the government in consultation with business leaders should devise a new privatisation strategy and introduce best business practices in loss making entities. He said the government could induct successful and experienced professionals from the private sector in the management of PSEs to turn them into revenue generating entities.
ICCI Senior Vice President Sheikh Pervez Ahmed, Sheikh Tariq Sadiq, Khalid Javed, Mian Akram Farid, Zahid Maqbool and others also spoke on the occasion and stressed for privatisation of loss making PSEs.
Privatization process in Pakistan is corrupt. Companies are not evaluated properly, and sold of cheaply to mostly foreign investors in return for big under the table payback arrangements. Companies should be evaluated properly, and shares should be sold to Pakistani investors, with management passing to Pakistanis. I don't see what is so complicated about that. Many highly qualified, competent and well to do Pakistanis abroad would be willing to invest in these companies if given a chance.
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