Pending privatisation: Experts urge govt to speed up process

Say despite PC’s repeated assertions, nothing significant has been done

LAHORE: Experts wonder why the present government is on the back foot over the privatisation process that has remained on a standstill during the past 30 months the PML-N has been in power, and is encouraging the opposition to challenge the privatisation done by the party during its first tenure.

The ruling party has to its credit some of the most successful privatisation transactions during 1991-93, the transparency of which is reflected in the fact that none of the governments have found any fault in the process in 25 years, said the experts.

The entities privatised during that period are among the star performers and most are included in the KSE-100 companies. Millat Tractors and Al Ghazi Tractors are the success stories of entities that were performing badly while they were part of the public sector, they added.

The two entities have successfully blocked all imports of tractors due to their competitive prices and have localised almost all tractor components.

MCB and Allied Bank, mediocre entities in 1991, are currently the two best performing banks in the country, paying more taxes, they pointed out.

Similarly DG Khan Cement, Kohat Cement and Maple Leaf are forces to reckon with in the cement sector.

They said these loss-making entities are now making exports and have more than tripled their capacity with latest technology.

“Privatisation has hardly had any negative impact on the economy, except when you witness a lot of workers being laid off, but the ones asked to leave are also offered decent incentives,” noted Alfalah Securities Director Research Taha Khan Javed.

“This is also one of the reasons that government-run institutions go in such big losses; they are overstaffed as a result of political hiring. Since these workers are not hired on merit, they do not make efforts to be productive or improve their work skills,” he added.

Although Privatisation Commission Chairman Mohammad Zubair has said repeatedly that public enterprises will be privatised, the assertion has not been further strengthened.

Businessmen are of the view that opposing forces are trying to erode investor confidence so that the economic process slows down, adding if in 1991-93, the privatisation had not resulted in forced removal of workers, this would not have been the case now.

If the government adopts all the procedures laid down in the Privatisation Ordinance, the process will move transparently, they added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th,  2015.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.