Senate Committee chaired by Senator Dr. Zarqa Suharwardhy Taimur seeks details of 82 State-Owned Enterprises

ISLAMABAD, Sep 10 (SABAH): Senator Dr. Zarqa Suharwardhy Taimur chaired the meeting of the Senate Functional Committee on Devolution held on Tuesday at Parliament House.

The Senate Functional Committee deliberated on the current status of entities enlisted in the Privatisation Commission’s active list. Officials from the Privatisation Commission stated that, as of now, 27 entities are on the active list, which includes PIA, State Life Insurance, LESCO, MEPCO, IESCO, FESCO, and other DISCOs. Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro asserted that IESCO is making a 99% recovery with 65% of its staff, while LESCO and FESCO are making 98% and MEPCO is making a 97% recovery. He questioned the rationale for the privatisation of these entities. Officials further informed that the total working strength of the Privatisation Commission is 64, which includes 5 officers of Grade 17 and above and 59 employees of Grade 1 to 16. The Committee directed the Privatisation Commission to provide details of 82 State-Owned Enterprises.

While discussing the privatisation status of PIA, officials informed that six parties showed interest in the initial bidding, namely Airblue, Arif Habib Company, and Air Sial. In the first phase, PIA airline will be privatised, and in the second phase, assets of PIA will be privatised, which mainly include the Roosevelt Hotel. As of now, PIA has 18 operational aircraft. Chairperson of the Committee, Senator Dr. Zarqa Suharwardhy Taimur, questioned the rationale of privatising PIA while bearing the liabilities of Rs. 850 billion by the Government itself.

Furthermore, the Committee was briefed by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs on its revenue and progress. Secretary for the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, informed that there are six autonomous organisations working under the ministry, including mainly Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority, Gwadar Port Authority, and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation. It was apprised that the Ministry of Maritime Affairs controls all the organisations except Gwadar Port Authority, which is controlled by a Chinese company and in which Pakistan has a 9% share of the profits. However, there has not been any activity at Gwadar port, and the Government is endeavouring to boost economic activity around the port to maximise its revenue. He highlighted that the Ministry has a non-development budget of Rs. 2 billion and a Rs. 5300 million development budget for the year 2024-25, and the Ministry has earned a revenue of Rs. 80 billion for the current financial year. Moreover, Port Qasim has earned a profit of Rs. 34 billion, being the most profitable organisation, and Karachi Port Trust has earned a profit of Rs. 10 billion in the last financial year. He highlighted that the Ministry is working to increase the profits of these organisations by cutting expenditure and is also aiming for an exponential increase in their profits in this financial year. The Committee, however, recommended that the Ministry of Maritime Affairs differentiate between the Provincial and Federal areas of ports and governed accordingly.

In attendance were Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro, Senator Poonjo Bheel, Secretary for the Ministry of Maritime Affairs Syed Zafar Ali Shah and other senior officials from the Privatisation Commission.