NA committee on privatisation to examine privatisation deals by previous government

[Naveed Yaseen]

Controversial privatisation deals to be re-examined

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Privatisation on Wednesday decided to reopen controversial privatisation of national entities by the previous government.

The committee, which met at Parliament House with Nawab Wassan Ali in the chair, expressed concern over the privatisation of national entities during the previous regime. The body ordered the Privatisation Commission (PC) to serve notices on Shaukat Aziz and the former Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) chairman to appear before the committee on September 14. PML-Q member Doniya Aziz, who was parliamentary secretary in the previous regime, told the committee that privatising the PSM was Aziz’s personal decision.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali said the previous government had been involved in a number of controversial privatisation decisions, which should be probed to avert future governments from playing with the country’s assets. He said there were many questions regarding transparency in proposed privatisation of the PSM, and the privatisation of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and United Bank Limited (UBL). “Being a government functionary I would welcome it if this committee decides to reopen all privatisation proceedings and unearth all facts,” he said. He said the body should also probe the huge losses of the Pakistan International Airlines, the Pakistan Railways and the Water and Power Development Authority. Privatisation Commission Secretary Ahmed Jawad informed the committee that a special audit of the PTCL, the HBL, the KESC and the UBL was being carried out, adding that a report would soon be presented before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). muhammad bilal

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