Govt decides to reconstitute Sarmaya Pakistan Limited

ISLAMABAD: After the resignation of almost all private members of the Sarmaya Pakistan Limited (SPL), the government has decided to reconstitute the SPL board as it finally seems serious in reviving the loss-making state enterprises.

As per the official statement of the Ministry of Finance, a proposal to reconstitute the SPL Board, along with names and details of proposed loss-making organisations, would be submitted to prime minister soon.

In a meeting, chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, it was decided that a new list of loss-making state enterprises, which could benefit from active supervision and guidance of the SPL's professional management, would be submitted to the prime minister through the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprise in the coming weeks.

On improving the governance structure of SOEs and the role of SPL, the adviser emphasised that immediate attention is required to contain the losses in a number of SOEs, adding that better governance and active supervision would bring considerable improvements on this front.

Noted economists and financial experts, including Shaukat Tareen and Zubyr Soomro, as well as senior officers of the Finance Division, were also present on the occasion.

The decision to revive SPL was made at a time when almost all private members of the SPL Board had resigned.

It is pertinent to mention that the government had earlier appointed eight members from the private sector as SPL directors. These included Musharraf Hai, Kamran Mirza, Nadeem Babar, Zubyr Soomro, Atif Aslam Bajwa, Ehsan Malik, Waqar Malik and Badar Sadat. Besides, the government had also nominated three senior government officials, including the industries and finance secretaries, as board members.

As per the sources, the resignations were tendered as the former directors found the government to be uninterested in reviving the SOEs. "The second meeting of SPL couldn’t be held even after a lapse of several months,” they added.

The SPL, which was formed after the cabinet's approval on similar lines to Malaysian and Singapore, could not produce anything meaningful since the change of face at the finance ministry.

Former finance minister Asad Umar, even before the elections, was reportedly interested in reviving the cash-bleeding organizations like Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Railway and Pakistan Steel Mills. However, sources said, Dr Hafeez Shaikh is “more interested in privatising the SOEs instead of making efforts for their revival”.

As per the objective and design of SPL, all public sector enterprises are supposed to come under this one company.