In a hurry

The Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation has announced plans to privatise some state-owned entities in the next five years. In the first phase, the committee has allowed the divestment of government shares in three oil and gas companies – OGDCL, PPL and Mari Petroleum. May I remind the government that these three entities have some share percentage in the offshore block, off the coast of Karachi, that is being drilled by a foreign company and that is estimated to have Pakistan’s biggest deposits of oil and gas. Therefore, it only makes sense to divest the shares of the three companies after the drilling is completed – then the share prices will be much higher.

The prime minister must consider delaying the sale of these shares until the drilling process is completed to fetch much higher sale prices.

Engr Shahryar Khan Baseer ( Peshawar )