Islamabad: The federal government has decided to sell government assets quickly to deal with the risk of default.
The federal government has decided on Friday to sell two power plants directly to the government of Qatar to avoid a possible default. 1 billion 50 million dollars will be obtained, but now the current government has decided to sell it directly to Qatar instead of privatizing it.
Two years ago, a new cabinet committee was formed by the government to review the process of speedy sale of government assets. In this regard, this power plant with the capacity to generate 2460 MW of electricity will now be sold directly to a foreign country.
Sources told Express that a meeting of the Privatization Commission was called in this regard on Thursday in which these two plants were asked to be removed from the privatization list while Privatization Minister Abid Hussain Bhiyo, who is the Chairman of the Privatization Commission Board. He presided over this meeting through video link.
A press statement is usually issued after the Privatization Commission board meeting, but no correspondence was issued regarding Thursday’s board meeting, which suggests that the federal government wants to keep the matter under wraps.
In this regard, when Express contacted the Minister of Privatization and Secretary Privatization, no response was received, but sources say that the Board has sent a recommendation to the Cabinet Committee on Privatization to close these two power plants. Exclude from privatization list.
Sources also say that during the meeting, it was informed that the Prime Minister’s Office wants these plants to be sold under the Intergovernmental Commercial Sale Act, 2022. The act empowers the government to sell any asset or entity directly to any government instead of a lengthy privatization process.
