Senator Ghumro questions privatisation of Iesco, Lesco and Fesco despite making record profits

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Functional Committee on Devolution Tuesday sought the details of 82 state owned enterprises (SOEs) from the Ministry of Privatization.

The committee met here at the Parliament House with Senator Dr. Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur in the chair.

The committee deliberated on the current status of entities enlisted by the Privatization Commission.

Officials from the Privatization Commission stated that 27 entities were on the active list, including PIA, State Life Insurance, Lesco, Mepco, Iesco, Fesco, and other Discos. Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro asserted that Iesco was making a 99% recovery with 65% of its staff, while Lesco and Fesco were making 98% and Mepco 97% recovery.

He questioned the rationale behind the privatisation of these entities. Officials further informed the committee that the total working strength of the Privatisation Commission was 64, which included five officers of Grade 17 and above and 59 employees of Grade 1 to 16.

Discussing the privatisation status of PIA, officials informed the committee that six parties had showed interest in the initial bidding, namely Airblue, Arif Habib Company, and Air Sial.

In the first phase, PIA will be privatized followed by its assets in the second phase, which mainly include the Roosevelt Hotel. As of now, PIA has 18 operational aircraft. The chairperson questioned the rationale behind the privatization of PIA while bearing the liabilities of Rs850 billion by the government itself. Furthermore, the committee was briefed by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs on its revenue and progress.

Secretary Maritime Affairs Syed Zafar Ali Shah informed the committee that there were six autonomous organisations working under the ministry, including mainly Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim Authority, Gwadar Port Authority, and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation. The committee was apprised that the Ministry of Maritime Affairs controlled all the organisations except the Gwadar Port Authority, which was controlled by a Chinese company and in which Pakistan had a 9% share of profits.

However, there has not been any activity at the Gwadar port, and the government is endeavouring to boost the economic activity around the port to maximise its revenue. He highlighted that the ministry had a non-development budget of Rs2 billion and a Rs5300 million development budget for the year 2024-25.

The ministry has earned a revenue of Rs80 billion for the current financial year. Moreover, Port Qasim has earned a profit of Rs34 billion, being the most profitable organisation, and Karachi Port Trust a profit of Rs10 billion in the last financial year.