Privatisation on rocks

The PDM-2 coalition partners are on the rocks while dealing with privatisation. The PPP has distanced itself from the ambitious plan of offering sick units to the private sector, and has come up with a reconstrued strategy of its own. This wedge has literally brought to a halt the irresistible option of dumping the non-performing sectors of the economy, and lessening the liabilities on national exchequer. To what extent the PML-N can go onto debrief the IMF over this aspect is anybody’s guess, as the lenders are unrelenting in carrying over the deadwood any longer. The operational losses to the tune of billions of rupees per annum will be a hangover if the proposed privatisation comes to a naught, and there is a possibility of taking down the dispensation under its debris.

The PPP which nationalised the performing industrial sector and profitable banks in the 1970s, nonetheless, has come up with a novel idea. It now wants a public-private partnership, and is against throwing away units such as the Steel Mills and PIA to lure corporate giants. In doing so it apparently has politics in sight, and not economics. All the sick units, especially those in Sindh, is a constituency for the PPP and the party rules the roost when it comes to dictating terms through their labour unions. This has been the among the root causes of non-performance, corruption and nepotism, ruining national assets beyond recovery. The party has also conditioned that all those units stationed in Sindh province must be vetted through the provincial government, causing the federal subject of privatisation to hit snags.

There is no doubt that the sick cows must be slaughtered, but the PPP has a point in saying that a renewed deal must carry a semblance of a check from the public sector. Else, it would be tantamount to turpitude. The process of handing over the management to the new consortium(s) must go through a proper forum of stringent legislation and a charter of action to make them profitable. No point in dumping the national assets under shadowy deals.aq

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2024.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.