Money wasted on privatisation efforts

In a startling revelation, a Senate panel was informed on Thursday that the federal government had spent Rs1.99 billion merely to determine if an institution could be privatised or not. Despite this, the government did not act on the advice given.

The Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation, presided over by Senator Talal Chaudhry, was briefed on the expenditure and income related to the privatisation process over the past five years.

The privatisation secretary informed the panel that over the past five years, Rs4.38 billion was earned from privatisation transactions, while Rs1.40 billion was spent on privatisation efforts. He added that the total expenditure, including operational costs, amounted to Rs1.99 billion.

He stated that the National Power Park Company, Pakistan Steel Mills and Jinnah Convention Centre were removed from the privatisation list and that Rs333 million, Rs127 million and Rs7 million, respectively, was paid to the financial advisors for the privatisation of these entities.

Committee member Senator Bilal Ahmad asked why the financial advisors were hired, to which the privatisation secretary replied that their role was to determine whether an entity could be privatised.

The committee chairman asked why was the privatisation of the entities halted after such a significant expenditure.

The privatisation secretary explained that the government ultimately decided against privatising these entities. He pointed out that the cabinet had delisted Pakistan Steel Mills last year after determining that proceeding with only one remaining bid would not be appropriate.

The secretary recalled that the CDA had objections to the privatisation of Jinnah Convention Centre.