Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
A legislative body of Upper House of parliament on Thursday was informed that the government did not plan to put up the Roosevelt Hotel New York for sale, but rather seeks a joint venture.
The matter was discussed in the Senate Standing Committee on Privatization, which was held at Parliament House while Senator Shamim Afridi was in the chair. Reviewing the privatization status of the Roosevelt Hotel, the Committee was informed that the Government has given up the privatization process of the hotel because it has special status for the country. TORs have been sent to the Aviation Division that is pending due to delay in the appointment of the Financial Advisor to key stakeholders that has been reinitiated by the Privatization Commission.
Senator Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah, Senator Rana Mahmood ul Hassan, Senator Anwar Lal Dean, Senator Molvi Faiz Muhammad, Senator Umer Farooq, and senior officers of the Ministry of Privatization along with its attached departments and agencies attended the meeting.
Issues taken up included a briefing by the Ministry of Privatization in light of the meeting on Cabinet Commission on Privatization on the Roosevelt, NY; SME Bank and the Services International Hotel, Lahore. Privatization of Sukkur Electric Power Company was also discussed in detail.
The meeting commenced with a review of implementation status of recommendations made in previous meetings. After being apprised of details, the Committee was briefed about the CCOP meeting that discussed privatization of the Roosevelt Hotel, NY; SME Bank and Services International Hotel.
Discussing the privatization process of the SME Bank. Ltd the Committee was informed that CCOP considered the summary dated 24th December, 2022 submitted by the Ministry of Privatization and approved recommendations of the PC-Board in its meeting held on 25th November, last year regarding delisting of the SME Bank from the Privatization Program. Finance Division and State Bank of Pakistan will take on the matter further. A report will be presented to the Committee in the next meeting. The Committee recommended that the SME Bank may be attached with a reputed Bank preferably NBP.
