The board of Privatization Commission on Friday gave a go ahead to initiate the process for privatisation of Jamshoro Power Company (JPC), the Heavy Electrical Complex (HEC) and SME Bank.

Chairing the meeting Minister for Privatisation Senator Waqar Ahmed emphasised that during the process the commission should seek approvals at a broader forum for all transactions in order to maintain the utmost transparency.

To assess the real value of the entities on the privatisation list, a third party valuation should be carried out and all phases of the process should be conducted in an open, fair and transparent manner to the satisfaction of all stakeholders, he said.

The meeting was informed that the World Bank has shown interest to finance and rehabilitate the technical potential of the JPC before taking it to the market as it was done in the Kapco transaction.

The Heavy Electrical Complex is one of the industrial units of the State Engineering Corporation (SEC) engaged in the manufacturing of power transformers of different types with primary voltage rating of 66KV and 132KV.

The JPC came into being as a result of the unbundling of Wapda and its power station and has a technical configuration of four sets and a total nameplate capacity of 880MW.

The government intends to lease the thermal power stations of JPC at Jamshoro and Kotri to investors, companies or a consortia having net worth $100 million, and desired experience in power generation for concession on lease basis and assets for a period of 15 years.

The SME Bank was formed and incorporated as a public limited company under the Companies Ordinance 1984. The government is the major shareholder of the bank.

It was created to address the needs of this niche market with specialised financial products and services that will help stimulate SME development and pro-poor growth in the country.

The PC board sought a presentation from the ministry of finance regarding the utilisation of the privatisation proceeds. The board also reviewed the status of the National Power Construction Company (NPCC) and decided for the revaluation of the entity.

The meeting was also informed that most recently 99 more properties in Punjab have been transferred to PTCL and Etisalat is being approached to de-list the private properties and those under litigation as to close the transaction.

The meeting also reviewed the progress made on the Benazir Employees Stock Option scheme and decided to speed up the distribution of certificates in the remaining entities.

So far, under the scheme more than 40,000 workers of eight entities have received 12 per cent government shares certificates.

Source: DAWN