Murad Ali Shah Supports Power Plants, Banks Privatization Subject To Employees, Consumers Protection

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday in a meeting with a seven-member delegation of Privatization Commission led by Federal Minister for Privatization Muhammad Mian Soomro said that his government was supporting two RLNG power projects and banks privatization, if the rights of employees and consumers were protected properly

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Jan, 2020 ):Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday in a meeting with a seven-member delegation of Privatization Commission led by Federal Minister for Privatization Muhammad Mian Soomro said that his government was supporting two RLNG power projects and banks privatization, if the rights of employees and consumers were protected properly.

Federal Minister Muhammad Mian Soomro led delegation comprising Member Privatization Commission Khurrram Shahzad, Financial Advisor Rabial Akhundzada, Samreen Zehra, Consultants Asad Rasool, Zayed Maud and others called on Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah at the CM House.

The Chief Minister was assisted by Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Sajid Jamal Abro, SMBR Qazi Shahid Parvez, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Energy Musadiq Khan and Secretary Investment, said a statement.

Minister/ Chairman Privatization Commission, Muhammad Mian Soomro said that the federal cabinet had finalized some of the projects, banks and real estate assets for privatization. He added that since those projects were national assets, therefore he wanted to take provincial governments into confidence for their privatization.

Soomro said that the projects for which bids had been invited included two RLNG based power plants at Havelli Bahadur Shah and Balloki respectively.

He added each of the plant had the capacity of generating 1230 MW electricity. The other projects were SME Bank Ltd and First Women bank, he said.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the power tariff of both the power plants must be protected so that the private party, after privatization, could not charge high rate for power generation. He added that similarly, the Commission has to protect the employment and rights of the employees working there.

The Chief Minister said that as far as SME Bank and First Women bank privatization was concerned, he repeated his request for protecting the rights and employment of the people working in the bank. He also insisted on processing the entire privatization process transparently and his government would be supporting the Commission.

The Chairman Privatization Commission also said that the cabinet had approved privatization of the real estate assets such as Services Intel Hotel Lahore, Jinnah Convention Centre Islamabad, Divestment of Minority sharing in leading oil and gas, OGDC and PPL and others.

The Chief Minister welcoming the delegation said that his government had no objection in their privatization but just he wanted transparency and protection of their employees.