A meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has ordered the winding up of Pakistan Textile City Limited (PTCL) after approving Rs12 million for the clearance of the company’s liabilities and transfer of its land to the Port Qasim Authority (PQA), reported a national daily.
According to sources, the company was facing a financial crunch and was considering selling its 200 acres of land to K-Electric to set up a coal-fired power plant. A summary was also presented to the ECC in this regard and, in response, the Prime Minister ordered the winding up of the company after completing the necessary requirements, including clearance of liabilities.
Formed as an unlisted public company namely PTCL, after a decision was passed by the Cabinet Division on July 19, 2013 has a registered office in Karachi. It was established in May 2004 as part of the export processing zone in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad. It was aimed to provide the textile sector with necessary infrastructure for value addition and its expansion in size and volume to compete in the national market.
The company obtained a certificate from Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on January 1, 2015 for commencing its business.The major shareholders of PTCL are the federal government (56 per cent shares) and Sindh government (16pc shares). The company’s objectives were to create, implement and manage an exclusive area for value-added products.
The project of establishing the textile city was, unfortunately, hindered by a number of impediments such as non-availability of adequate infrastructure such as electricity, gas and water hence, the textile city development showed stagnation. These issues remained unresolved despite the company’s officials raising their grievances to the appropriate authorities concerned. The company’s accounts were also blocked by National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) due to non-payment of the principal amount.
A meeting of Board of Directors (BoD) was summoned on Nov 17, 2016 to decide upon the winding up of the company. The meeting decided that due to non-availability of financial resources and required infrastructure, including natural gas, the company was unable to continue its existence and, as decided by the committee formed earlier by the federal government, the process of voluntary winding up be initiated according to rules laid down in the Companies Ordinance 1984.
While approving the winding up of the company, sources added that the PM directed that all the assets of the company should be disposed of through an order of transfer to the PQA, which originally leased the land to the PTCL as the terms of lease do not allow its further sale or transfer to a third party.
