Govt drops Pakistan Steel Mills from privatization list

The caretaker government has set aside its plan to privatize Pakistan Steel Mills and has dropped it from its privatization list, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

After the latest development, the interim government released a fresh list of state-owned units that will be offered to the private sector under its privatization programme.

Overall, 26 state-owned entities will be put on sale under the ongoing government programme including four units each in financial and real estate sectors. In the new list, a maximum of 14 state entities belong to the country’s ailing energy sector.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is the only state-owned unit belonging to the aviation sector in the functional list of the government’s privatization programme.

Three units from the state’s industrial sector have also been part of the privatization programme.

Moreover, the State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) has also been included in the privatization programme.

Frome the energy sector, Balloki, Haveli Bahadur, Guddu and Nandipur power plants are part of the privatization list.

Moreover, 10 state-owned electricity distribution companies would also be privatized to the private sector under the active list. The House Building Finance Corporation, First Women Bank, Pakistan Engineering Company and Sindh Engineering Limited have also been in the government’s privatization list.

Services International Hotel Lahore, Jinnah Convention Centre Islamabad and the PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel in New York are the state-owned units to be privatized under the official list of privatization.

Reporter Waqas Azeem