ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The federal government is committed to ensure transparency and integrity during privatization of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) included in the privatization program after approval by the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (COOP) for ‘Early Implementation’.
“The government is fully cognizant of the fact that ensuring full transparency and integrity of the privatization process is crucial to the success of the privatization program,” according to official document here on Friday.
In order to ensure transparency, all important stakeholders including the relevant ministries, regulators, and management teams of the entities being privatized, are included in the privatization process from the beginning of the privations exercise.
All stakeholders are invited by the Privatization Commission to provide their input when the transaction is being conceptualized, and subsequently, they are invited to participate in all the important meetings that take place over the course of the transaction.
This ensures that they have a say at each and every stage of the process, and that they are aware of all aspects of the privatization process being carried out.
Furthermore, all the major decisions to be taken with respect to any transaction have to be approved by the Board of the Privatization Commission and the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP).
The Board comprises of eminent professionals including business leaders, lawyers and retired senior bureaucrats, and it has been insured that there is at least one representative from each province of the Board to protect the interests of the provinces.
The CCOP is headed by the Minister for Finance, Revenues, Economic Affairs, Statistics and privatization and comprises of all economic related Federal Ministers.
The PC also ensures complete compliance with the Public Procurement Laws, as well as the rules and Regulations framed thereunder, for all procurements, including but not limited to the hiring of Financial Advisors and Valuators for privatization transactions.
Furthermore, the Privatization Commission is meticulous in ensuring full compliance with the relevant provisions of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.
In order to ensure complete transparency, the PC during the present government, has also been voluntarily submitting numerous additional transaction-related documents to NAB, which are not mandatory.
The PC has been fully cooperative and forthcoming whenever it has been called up to brief the Public Accounts Committee or Standing Committees on Finance Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization of the Senate and National Assembly, regarding any matters related to privatization.
In order to increase transparency and awareness of the PC’s operations, the Commission has endeavored to keep the press regularly updated and has also recently decided to increase its outreach to all audiences by becoming active on social media.
Source: APP
