Summary for giving Convention Centre on lease for 33 years sent to federal cabinet

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation was informed that a summary has been sent to the federal cabinet for giving Convention Centre on lease for 33 years.

This was stated by the secretary privatisation during a briefing to the senate standing committee presided over by Senator Shammim Afridi on Thursday.

The committee in the previous meeting opposed the privatisation of the Convention Centre and sought a briefing on it.

The chairman CDA briefed the committee that the Convention Centre was owned by the Ministry of Interior. The area of Convention Centre Islamabad is 7.59 acres, out of which, build up area is around 4.13 acres. The building is maintained by the CDA and the CDA chairman said it should be privatized.

The committee directed to the CDA that the process be re-initiated, the new layout plan was laid and approved by the CDA Board which was sent to the Planning Commission Board for approval and after being duly approved, was sent to the Ministry of Interior. Subsequently, it was submitted to the CCoP. The meeting was informed that a summary was sent to the federal cabinet, on behalf of the Ministry of Interior, for the privatisation of the Convention Centre for a period of 33 years.

The process is at a premature stage; only an expression of interest is being intimated.

The secretary interior said that they expected to expedite the process so that a price can be evaluated for bidding.

The matter was deferred for further briefing.

While taking a briefing on the current status of the privatisation of Pak-China Fertilizers Company, Haripur, on which, the committee previously recommended that as Sachon Group has not paid full payment as per commitment of privatized shares of Pak-China Fertilizers Company, and legal action needs to be taken for non-payment of the remaining amount of privatization. It was briefed by the ministry that the PC is currently pursuing the execution petition pending for adjudication before the Islamabad High court.

The property of Pak-China Fertilizers Limited is attached for the recovery of outstanding amounts by the orders of the Islamabad High Court. It was briefed that the Sachon Group is willing to deposit a sum of Rs235 million along with a performance guarantee amounting to Rs700 million for the disputed amount, provided a stay order against the disposal/sale of assets property of the PCFL is vacated.

The meeting was attended by Senator Anwar Lal Dean, Senator Rana Mahmodul Hassan and Senator Umer Farooq. Secretary Ministry of Interior, Chairman CDA, and other officials of the attached departments were also in attendance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023