Cabinet body to review privatisation plan.

ISLAMABAD -- The newly constituted Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) at its inaugural meeting on Friday decided to conduct a review of the privatisation programme which, it says, has attained high priority under the current economic situation.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail chaired the meeting which was attended among others by federal ministers Abid Hussain Bhayo, KhaAwaja Muhammad Asif, Rana SanaAullah Khan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Syed Murtaza Mahmud. Adviser to the Prime Minister on EstablishAment Ahad Cheema, Chairman of Privatisation Commission Saleem Ahmad and federal secretaries also attended the meeting.

The Privatisation Commission chairman presented the roadmap for the current privatisation programme for reaffirmation by newly constituted CCoP, with the major endeavour for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills. The plan he presented to the CCoP focuses on revival through significant foreign direct investment and technology transfer generating significant employment opportunities for qualified workers.

The committee was apprised of a recent successful due diligence visit by a team of BaoSteel, world's largest steel producer. BaoSteel manufacturers 180 million tonnes of steel per annum and is one of four interested parties and plans to increase capacity of PSMC to three million tonnes per annum.

The CCoP unanimously welcomed the prospect of PSMC revival, entailing commercial leasing of 1,229 acres of land and jetty, and directed ministries of industries and production, energy and maritime to work with PC to remove all bottlenecks expeditiously.

The committee was apprised of the ongoing effort to recapitalise NPPMCL, the owner of two RLNG power plants in...