Swat tourist firm buys WAPDA rest house

Privatisation Commission auctions ‘surplus’ govt-owned property

ISLAMABAD:

A tourism firm from Swat beat off competition from five other bidders to buy a rest house owned by a state entity in the scenic Mansehra region on Friday for Rs72 million.

The Ministry of Privatization on Friday auctioned a rest house owned by the Water And Power Development Authority (Wapda) during a ceremony in Abbottabad.

The rest house is sprawled over six kanals and eight marlas and is located in the lush green Lalazar valley of Batakundi in Mansehra.

Officials said that at least six private companies participated in the auction process which was overseen by an auction committee of the privatisation ministry including its Director General Iftikhar Hussain Naqvi, Transaction Director Suleman Amin, Manager Zahir Saddiq, Auction Committee Member and Assistant Additional Commissioner Aminul Hassan, besides other officials.

The auction started with a base price of Rs21.6 million.

After a few rounds of enthusiastic bidding, the Swat Tourism Company managed to outbid others, securing the rest house for a whopping Rs72 million.

Naqvi said that the auction process for abandoned and surplus properties of the government departments in the country has resumed after seven years.

He added that the government is pursuing a policy to strengthen the national economy by disposing of properties of loss-making entities.

Naqvi said that around 90 per cent from the proceeds of the auction will be spent on repaying foreign loans while the remaining 10 per cent will be used for poverty eradication programmes of the government.

Swati, the managing director of the Swat Tourism Company, which made the successful bid, said that the purpose of participating in the auction was to strengthen the good intentions of the government and to use the surplus property for the promotion of international tourism.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2020.