Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
A legislative body of Upper House of parliament on Tuesday was informed that provinces were not interested in the privatization of power distribution companies (DISCOs) and the privatization commission unable to do much due to provincialization.
These matters were discussed in the Senate Standing Committee on Privatization, which held today at parliament house while Senator Shamim Afridi was on chair.
Discussing the LESCO privatization program, the committee was informed that the process was approved by the Council of Common Interest and was initiated to reduce ATC losses of each DISCOs to the level allowed by NEPRA and improve quality of service delivery and consumer satisfaction.
After a tedious process of research and review the Cabinet Committee on Privatization directed Power Division to write to all provinces through the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) for negotiations in buying the concerned DISCOs that were nine in number by respective provinces.
The Committee took notice of the non-involvement of the Private Sector and stressed the need for its involvement in order to make the process more transparent. The Committee was informed that the Privatization Commission is unable to do much due to provincialization of the matter.
The Committee asserted the need for expediting the process. The meeting was attended by Senator Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah, Senator Anwaar Ul Haq Kakar, Senator Anwar Lal Dean, Senator Molvi Faiz Muhammad, Senator Umer Farooq, Senator Saeed Ahmed Hashmi and senior officers of the Ministry of Privatization along with its attached departments and agencies.
