ANNOUNCING that all State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), whether those loss-making or in profit except from strategic SOEs, would be privatized, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed all the ministries to take necessary action and extend cooperation to the Privatization Commission in this connection. He also announced a landmark decision to ensure the routing of a proportion of the country’s imports, particularly related to the government, through the Gwadar Port. The PM instructed all the ministries to enhance collaboration for the swift execution of CPEC’s second phase and warned against any laxity by the ministries and government departments.
It is unfortunate that despite the passage of decades, there is still no clarity on the privatization programme which was originally launched to get rid of loss-making entities. It is, however, a fact that the loss-making institutions are still there haemorrhaging the national kitty but the process has been used as a shield to hand over some prized institutions to blue-eyed people at questionable prices. A decision was also taken to use proceeds of the privatization programme to retire debt but mainly the money has been used to bridge budgetary deficit. We are again proceeding in the same direction by deciding to sell even profit earning institutions on flimsy grounds. It is also a reality that the process of privatization has become one of the major stumbling blocks in the way of fresh investment which is the need of the hour. As for directions to route a part of the imports through Gwadar Port, this seems appropriate but the most suitable strategy would be to complete work on projects relating to improvement of necessary infrastructure there and connectivity of Gwadar with the rest of the country as well as linkages with other countries. Execution of the second phase of CPEC is overdue and we hope concrete progress would be made towards this end during the proposed visit of the Prime Minister to China.
