CCI okays Balloki, Haveli power plants sell-off

Decides to form task force to check rapid population growth

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Common Interests (CCI) on Monday approved a proposal to include 1,233-megawatt RLNG-based Balloki Power Plant and 1,230MW Haveli Bahadur Power Plant

in the active list of privatisation programme for early implementation.

The in principle approval was given during the CCI meeting, which met at the PM Office on Monday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Asad Umar, Minister for Law and Justice Dr Muhammad Farogh Naseem, Minister for Privatisation Muhammad Mian Soomro, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Industry Abdul Razzaq Dawood, federal and provincial secretaries and other senior officials.



Earlier, the government had asked the National Power Parks Company (NPPC) to submit a working paper on the feasibility of privatising the two entities.

The two plants would either be privatised as a bundle package or as separate entities, and the working paper to be prepared by the NPPC will identify timelines, justifications and issues ancillary to it for consideration of the Privatisation Commission board and the cabinet committee on privatisation.

The CCI considered the issue of rapid population growth of the country, which currently stands at 207.8 million with a growth rate of 2.4% per annum.

It decided to constitute national and provincial task forces, to be headed by the prime minister at the national level and by the respective chief ministers at the provincial levels.



The process of establishment of task forces will be completed in 48 hours, a press release issued by the PM Media Office here said.

The task forces, constituted at the national and provincial levels, will consider recommendations, formulated by the Task Force, constituted earlier on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and will submit a comprehensive Action Plan to the CCI, taking into account the future implementation strategy of the Action Plan, the financial aspects and other issues about garnering support of all segments of society for the success of a comprehensive population control programme.

The CCI unanimously emphasised upon the need for greater focus towards renewable energy in existing energy mix.

There was a complete consensus among the participants to place greater focus on further improving ease of doing business in the country in order to attract investments and to promote industry for realizing the export potential of the country.

 

(With additional input from APP)